CA Salary in India: What a Newly Qualified CA Takes Home

Newly qualified CAs placed through ICAI campus rounds averaged about ₹13 lakh a year in the 64th round, held in April and May 2026. The 60th round averaged ₹12.49 lakh. Both are CTC averages, so they describe the whole package, not monthly pay.

Sources: ICAI's 60th round results and ICAI's 64th round results, both as reported by Careers360.

The highest offer in the 64th round was ₹27.50 lakh against an average of ₹13 lakh, a ratio of 2.1 (27.50 ÷ 13). A top offer therefore says little about what the other candidates received. ICAI's own placement page lists ₹32.33 lakh as the highest domestic offer for December 2025 to January 2026.

Campus placement is the route most new CAs try. The 65th round began on 31 July 2026, and 6,399 of the 7,931 CAs who qualified in May 2026 registered (81%, from 6,399 ÷ 7,931).

The ICAI average describes CAs who received offers from campus recruiters, so it sits above the pay most CAs report across the wider market. Glassdoor's 1,683 salary submissions from CAs in India put the middle half of pay between ₹6.49 lakh and ₹11.63 lakh. The ₹13 lakh campus average is above that range.

Glassdoor's 2026 salary pages list these typical total pay ranges (25th to 75th percentile, meaning the middle half of submitted salaries) for CAs:

These ranges cover CAs at every experience level, so they do not isolate first jobs. Our reading is that a first offer in the lower half of your city's range is ordinary, and an offer near ₹13 lakh is a strong result worth planning around, not assuming.

Fixed monthly pay is about 20% below CTC divided by 12 at fresher packages. In our model, a ₹10 lakh CTC pays ₹66,800 a month, because employer provident fund and variable pay (pay that depends on performance, such as a yearly bonus) sit inside the CTC but do not arrive as monthly salary.

Our model, not an official figure:

• Basic pay (the core part of salary, on which PF is calculated) is 40% of CTC.
• Employer PF is 12% of basic, which is 4.8% of CTC and is counted inside the CTC.
• Employee PF, deducted from your pay, is the same 4.8% of CTC.
• Variable pay is 10% of CTC, paid separately from monthly salary.
• Professional tax (a state levy on salaried people) is ₹2,400 a year.
• Taxable income is CTC minus employer PF minus the ₹75,000 standard deduction (a flat amount subtracted from salary). It is taxed at the new-regime slabs in the next section, plus 4% health and education cess (a levy added to the tax), after the rebate.
• The employer deducts the whole year's income tax from fixed monthly pay, spread over 12 months. Variable pay is paid in full.
• Fixed monthly pay = (CTC × 0.804 − 2,400 − annual income tax) ÷ 12, where 0.804 = 1 − 0.048 − 0.10 − 0.048.
• Monthly average including variable pay = fixed monthly pay + (CTC × 0.10) ÷ 12.
• With no tax due, fixed monthly pay is about CTC × 0.067.

Your structure will differ. Some employers cap PF at a basic of ₹15,000 a month, which raises monthly pay above this table, and others count insurance premiums inside CTC, which lowers it. The offer letter and a sample payslip settle it.

No, not at typical fresher packages. As of October 2026, a resident individual on the new tax regime (Section 202 of the Income-tax Act, 2025) whose total income is ₹12 lakh or less gets a rebate (Section 156) of the whole tax or ₹60,000, whichever is less. Salaried people also get a ₹75,000 standard deduction, so salary up to ₹12.75 lakh (12 + 0.75) is tax-free when it is your only income.

The Income-tax Act, 2025 replaced the 1961 Act on 1 April 2026 and applies to income earned in tax year 2026-27 (a tax year is the 12 months of a financial year, here April 2026 to March 2027). The new regime was Section 115BAC and the rebate was Section 87A under the 1961 Act, which is why older articles quote those numbers. The standard deduction is ₹75,000 under the Act as amended by the Finance Act, 2026. The new-regime slabs on the Section 202 page are:

• Nil up to ₹4 lakh.
• 5% from ₹4 lakh to ₹8 lakh.
• 10% from ₹8 lakh to ₹12 lakh.
• 15% from ₹12 lakh to ₹16 lakh.
• 20% from ₹16 lakh to ₹20 lakh.
• 25% from ₹20 lakh to ₹24 lakh.
• 30% above ₹24 lakh.

The rebate condition is set out on the Section 156 page. In our model, a CTC of up to about ₹13.4 lakh (12.75 ÷ 0.952, because employer PF is not part of taxable pay) attracts no income tax, which is why the ₹13 lakh row above shows ₹0. Confirm which regime your employer applies, because the old regime follows different rules, and check the slabs for the year you are paid in.

Four things move a first offer: employer, city, department and articleship (the practical training every CA student completes under a practising CA).

• Employer. ICAI lists banking and financial services, professional services (consulting and audit), IT services, metals and mining, pharmaceuticals, and power and energy among its main campus recruiting sectors, so the sector you aim for decides which recruiters you interview with.
• City. The 25th percentile is ₹8.10 lakh in Bangalore and Chennai against ₹6.50 lakh in Pune, a gap of ₹1.60 lakh (8.10 − 6.50), per the Glassdoor table above.
• Department. In our view, statutory audit tends to pay least inside a large firm, while tax advisory, valuation and transaction advisory tend to pay more. Ask which team you are joining before you accept.
• Articleship. Choose a firm that gives you work you want to do after qualifying. In our view, employers are likely to ask about that work in interviews.

The same CA qualification leads to different roles, which our comparison of CA vs ACCA for Big Four audit careers in India explains. For the years after qualifying, our recommendation is to build one specialisation and judge each later offer against the city ranges above.

Run these seven tests on any CA offer before you accept, and compare each result with its pass line.

Is the variable pay itemised and 15% of CTC or less?

Divide variable pay by CTC. Pass: the letter itemises it and it is 15% or less (our recommendation). Fail: it is itemised but above 15%, or it is not itemised.

Does the payslip match your monthly estimate?

Multiply CTC by 0.067. This shortcut is valid only for CTC up to about ₹13.4 lakh; above that, use the matching row of the table. Pass: the employer's sample payslip shows a fixed net within 5% of your estimate (for ₹10 lakh, ₹63,460 to ₹70,140). Fail: if it is more than 5% above, PF may be capped or variable pay may be a smaller share, so confirm both in writing. If it is more than 5% below, ask for the extra deductions line by line.

Are PF and insurance shown inside CTC?

Pass: employer PF and any insurance premium appear as separate lines inside CTC. Fail: they are not shown, so your take-home cannot be worked out.

Is there a joining-bonus clawback or service bond?

A clawback is an employer demanding repayment of a joining bonus, and a service bond is a promise to stay for a fixed period. Pass: any repayment ends within 12 months and reduces month by month (our recommendation). Fail: full repayment is demanded whenever you leave.

Are the city and department named?

Pass: both are named in the letter. Fail: either reads "to be allocated".

Where does your CTC sit in your city's range?

Compare your CTC with the Glassdoor range for your city. Pass (our recommendation): it falls between the 25th percentile and the midpoint of the range ((25th + 75th) ÷ 2), which is where a first job would be expected because the ranges include experienced CAs. Above the midpoint, the offer is strong. Below the 25th percentile, ask what explains it, such as the role, the firm size or the city, before you accept.

Does your payslip show tax deducted at source?

Tax deducted at source (TDS) is income tax your employer withholds from pay. If your annual taxable salary is ₹12.75 lakh or less (roughly a CTC up to ₹13.4 lakh in our model) and you are on the new regime, pass means the payslip shows no TDS. Fail: it shows TDS, so ask payroll which regime they applied.

We coach students for CA, Company Secretary (CS), Cost and Management Accountant (CMA) and Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) qualifications in Bengaluru. For CA we work on the part you control: clearing the exam stages on a plan, with a personalised study planner, a question bank and personal mentorship, so you reach articleship and your first job on schedule.

Before you commit, work out what the route costs with our CA coaching and exam cost planner. Fees are shared on request. To talk it through, message us on WhatsApp or use our contact page, and we will map your route against the salary ranges above.