The document is a salary survey report for technical communicators in India from 2015. It provides key results from the survey including: - The median salary level in India increased 12.8% compared to 2014 and has grown 3.8 times over the last 13 years. - For the same experience level, the National Capital Region pays the highest salaries followed by Pune and Bangalore. - Indian salary levels are about 23.8% of salary levels for technical communicators in the U.S. The report also includes detailed statistics on salaries by experience level, location, and age that were collected through an online survey of 151 respondents.

1. 2015
Salary Survey
of Indian Technical Communicators

2. Date of publication: 11th December 2015
Data collected in: October and November 2015
www.stc-india.org
STC India 2015 Salary Survey
Data collection, analysis, and report by: Paresh Naik
Your feedback and suggestions are welcome. Please write to pareshnaik@rediffmail.com

3. Contents
1. Overview .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 About the survey..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 About statistical measures used in this report ....................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.3 Key results.............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 1
2. Experience ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 2
3. Location ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
4. Age.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
5. Comparison with 2013 STC India survey results................................................................................................................................................... 8
6. Trend .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
7. Comparison with the salaries of Technical Communicators in the U.S............................................................................................................ 10

4. STC India 2015 Salary Survey 1
1. Overview
1.1 About the survey
STC India chapter conducted a survey of salaries of Technical
Communicators working in India. This anonymous survey was open to
all Technical Communicators working in India including those who are
not the members of STC. The survey was conducted through a web
based questionnaire open from 20th October to 6th November 2015.
A total of 151 respondents completed the survey.
1.2 About statistical measures used in this report
Base: The total responses in a given category.
Mean: The value computed by averaging the tabulated responses.
10%: Ten percent of the responses were below this value; ninety
percent were above this value.
25%: Twenty-five percent of the responses were below this value;
seventy-five percent were above this value.
50%: Fifty percent of the responses were below this value; fifty
percent were above this value. This is also called the median.
75%: Seventy-five percent of the responses were below this value;
twenty-five percent were above this value.
90%: Ninety percent of the responses were below this value; ten
percent were above this value.
TrimMean: This value is the mean taken by excluding 10% of data
points from the top and bottom tails of a data set. In other words, this
is an average of values excluding the extreme cases.
Salary/year of experience: Most of the tables also indicate the
measures for salary/year of experience. This parameter is included to
compare influence of various factors on the salary on level grounds,
i.e. to exclude the effect of experience. If all or most of the survey
participants from a specific category have a higher number of years of
experience, the average salary in that particular category may be
reflected as very high. In such cases, the salary/year of experience
parameter will give a more realistic comparison of salaries in related
categories.
All the salary figures mentioned in this report are in Indian Rupees
unless specifically mentioned otherwise.
1.3 Key results
 The survey shows the median salary level of Indian Technical
Communicators in 2015 has increased by 12.8% compared to the
same in 2014. In the last 13 years, the average salary level in
India has grown 3.8 times.
 For the same experience level, National Capital Region is the
highest paying area in India followed by Pune and Bangalore.
 Comparison of median salaries in India and the U.S. shows that
the Indian salary levels are about 23.8% of the U.S. salary levels.

5. 2 STC India 2015 Salary Survey
2. Experience
Experience
(Years)
Base Salary (Rs. per annum) Salary/year of experience (Rs. per annum)
Average
TrimMea
n 10% 25% 50% 75% 90% Average
TrimMea
n 10% 25% 50% 75% 90%
0 - 3 6 3,61,667 3,61,667 2,65,000 2,92,500 3,00,000 4,05,003 5,20,002 2,73,655 2,73,655 1,92,500 2,40,000 2,58,462 2,94,231 3,70,002
3 - 4 8 7,16,875 7,16,875 5,70,000 6,37,500 7,15,000 7,68,750 8,71,500 2,16,307 2,16,307 1,75,195 1,91,652 2,08,333 2,36,538 2,65,892
4 - 5 10 6,44,500 6,44,500 4,63,000 4,96,250 5,75,000 7,52,500 9,27,000 1,49,130 1,49,130 1,05,774 1,14,733 1,30,663 1,70,068 2,28,750
5 - 6 13 6,89,769 6,89,769 5,02,200 5,60,000 6,00,000 8,90,000 9,00,000 1,29,243 1,29,243 96,650 1,01,818 1,20,000 1,66,154 1,73,296
6 - 7 15 9,24,158 9,24,158 5,86,000 7,25,000 8,50,000 10,00,000 10,85,418 1,46,593 1,46,593 95,421 1,19,113 1,30,769 1,57,192 1,77,816
7 - 8 9 10,55,889 10,55,889 8,62,600 9,00,000 10,00,000 12,00,000 13,02,000 1,43,973 1,43,973 1,18,324 1,25,581 1,28,571 1,67,191 1,77,578
8 - 9 14 12,30,071 12,30,071 8,03,600 9,05,000 9,87,500 11,16,000 20,55,000 1,47,900 1,47,900 95,609 1,08,361 1,19,328 1,33,795 2,50,269
9 - 10 21 13,18,130 12,94,828 8,00,000 9,60,000 13,20,000 16,40,711 17,50,000 1,42,105 1,39,827 88,889 1,06,667 1,45,321 1,73,158 1,94,444
10 -11 16 16,53,500 16,53,500 11,65,000 13,55,750 15,50,000 18,00,000 23,12,500 1,56,616 1,56,616 1,10,952 1,27,167 1,51,269 1,74,098 2,15,095
11-13 9 17,46,111 17,46,111 10,25,400 12,00,000 14,37,000 18,20,000 28,60,000 1,44,769 1,44,769 84,967 1,00,000 1,19,750 1,51,667 2,38,333
13-15 7 18,69,575 18,69,575 10,48,800 14,24,000 18,00,000 19,44,514 27,13,417 1,36,167 1,36,167 75,043 1,05,718 1,28,571 1,38,894 1,97,837
15 and
above 23 23,91,883 23,24,443 13,40,000 16,50,000 21,30,000 29,36,650 35,80,000 1,39,698 1,33,586 81,333 95,649 1,20,588 1,56,672 2,05,932
* The ranges exclude the upper most limits. If you are looking for a boundary case, you should read the range where the case is lower limit of the range. For example, if you
are looking for the salary level of a Technical Communicator with exactly 2 years of experience, you should refer to the 2-3 range and not the 1-2 range.

6. Experience
STC India 2015 Salary Survey 3
0 - 1
7%
1 - 2
3% 2 - 3
8%
3 - 4
8%
4 - 5
6%
5 - 6
5%
6 - 7
10%
7 - 8
10%
8 - 9
7%
9 - 10
11%
10 -11
7%
11-13
6%
13-15
8%
15 and
above
4%
0
5
10
15
20
25
0 - 3 3 - 4 4 - 5 5 - 6 6 - 7 7 - 8 8 - 9 9 - 10 10 -11 11-13 13-15 15
and
above
x100000
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
0 - 3 3 - 4 4 - 5 5 - 6 6 - 7 7 - 8 8 - 9 9 - 10 10 -11 11-13 13-15 15 and
above
Thousands
Average salary (TrimMean) per annum (Rs./year)
Average salary (TrimMean) per annum per year of experience
(Rs./year/year of experience)
Profile of respondents

7. 4 STC India 2015 Salary Survey
3. Location
Location Base
Salary (Rs. per annum) Salary/year of experience (Rs. per annum)
Average TrimMean 10% 25% 50% 75% 90% Average TrimMean 10% 25% 50% 75% 90%
Bangalore 59 14,21,034 13,77,109 5,49,000 8,00,000 12,00,000 19,00,000 24,52,000 1,55,988 1,50,775 93,891 1,14,039 1,36,727 1,80,000 2,30,000
Chennai 4 9,30,750 9,30,750 6,90,000 8,25,000 9,37,500 10,43,250 11,66,100 1,10,334 1,10,334 95,631 1,05,363 1,13,305 1,18,277 1,22,659
Hyderabad 16 11,67,273 11,67,273 6,75,000 9,18,500 10,90,000 13,40,000 16,00,000 1,37,913 1,37,913 1,00,778 1,12,182 1,27,444 1,48,886 1,70,402
Mumbai 6 15,46,667 15,46,667 6,90,000 10,00,000 15,00,000 19,25,000 24,50,000 1,08,338 1,08,338 83,333 88,944 1,06,663 1,25,816 1,35,017
NCR* 11 18,08,482 18,08,482 7,50,000 8,25,000 16,00,000 20,35,000 29,73,300 1,65,784 1,65,784 1,06,667 1,25,385 1,57,377 1,89,976 2,15,556
Pune 49 12,72,709 12,07,395 4,67,200 7,80,000 10,50,000 16,00,000 21,11,222 1,63,181 1,58,359 99,104 1,16,667 1,48,148 1,82,301 2,46,061
Other
locations 6 6,79,833 6,79,833 5,30,000 5,64,750 5,89,500 8,10,000 9,20,000 1,24,587 1,24,587 81,056 98,333 1,00,909 1,05,455 1,91,795
*NCR: National capital region, includes Delhi, Faridabad, Gurgaon, and Noida

8. Location
STC India 2015 Salary Survey 5
Bangalore
39%
Chennai
3%
Hyderabad
11%
Mumbai
4%
NCR*
7%
Pune
32%
Other
locations
4%
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
Mumbai
NCR*
Pune
Otherlocations
x100000
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
Mumbai
NCR*
Pune
Otherlocations
Thousands
Average salary (TrimMean) per annum (Rs./year)Profile of respondents
Average salary (TrimMean) per annum neutralized for experience
(Rs./year/year of experience)

9. 6 STC India 2015 Salary Survey
4. Age
Age
(Years) Base
Salary (Rs. per annum) Salary/year of experience (Rs. per annum)
Average TrimMean 10% 25% 50% 75% 90% Average TrimMean 10% 25% 50% 75% 90%
22-24 Not enough data
25-26 5 5,70,000 5,70,000 5,00,000 5,00,000 6,00,000 6,00,000 6,30,000 1,71,498 1,71,498 1,01,451 1,10,769 1,57,895 2,16,667 2,52,821
27-28 11 7,18,636 7,18,636 5,50,000 5,75,000 7,00,000 8,62,500 9,00,000 1,55,581 1,55,581 1,06,415 1,18,966 1,64,384 1,80,193 2,00,000
29-30 18 7,96,445 7,96,445 4,94,000 6,10,000 8,15,000 9,07,500 10,30,000 1,50,543 1,50,543 1,05,167 1,16,888 1,24,143 1,52,801 1,90,807
31-33 24 10,95,792 10,25,409 4,43,500 8,25,000 9,80,000 12,68,750 16,01,500 1,68,037 1,59,677 1,07,825 1,27,976 1,49,257 1,74,868 2,37,231
34-37 46 15,89,109 15,02,120 7,46,500 10,80,000 14,68,500 18,80,000 24,12,500 1,57,566 1,53,009 96,422 1,13,061 1,38,061 1,81,607 2,52,033
38
and
above 46 16,75,574 16,36,200 7,75,000 9,85,000 14,65,000 20,00,000 30,86,650 1,38,341 1,34,748 78,710 95,585 1,23,665 1,59,190 2,19,167

10. Age
STC India 2015 Salary Survey 7
25-26
3%
27-28
7% 29-30
12%
31-33
16%
34-37
31%
38
and above
31%
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
22-24 25-26 27-28 29-30 31-33 34-37 38
and above
x100000
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
22-24 25-26 27-28 29-30 31-33 34-37 38
and above
Thousands
Average salary (TrimMean) per annum (Rs./year)
Profile of respondents
Average salary (TrimMean) per annum neutralized for experience
(Rs./year/year of experience)

11. 8 STC India 2015 Salary Survey
5. Comparison with 2014 STC India survey results
Grouping Base Mean Median
2014 2015 2014 2015 % Rise 2014 2015 % Rise
Total 151 11,45,013 13,36,791 16.7 9,75,000 11,00,000 12.8
Experience
3 - 4 12 8 5,93,083 7,16,875 20.9 5,39,000 7,15,000 32.7
4 - 5 8 10 6,85,625 6,44,500 -6.0 6,80,000 5,75,000 -15.4
5 - 6 8 13 7,96,250 6,89,769 -13.4 8,10,000 6,00,000 -25.9
6 - 7 15 15 9,04,400 9,24,158 2.2 8,50,000 8,50,000 0.0
7 - 8 14 9 9,20,789 10,55,889 14.7 10,50,000 10,00,000 -4.8
8 - 9 10 14 12,32,650 12,30,071 -0.2 12,00,000 9,87,500 -17.7
9 - 10 16 21 15,67,500 13,18,130 -15.9 14,65,000 13,20,000 -9.9
10 -11 10 16 19,75,385 16,53,500 -16.3 19,00,000 15,50,000 -18.4
11-13 9 9 15,59,889 17,46,111 11.9 13,50,000 14,37,000 6.4
13-15 12 7 22,15,417 18,69,575 -15.6 20,50,000 18,00,000 -12.2
15 and
above 6 23 25,20,626 23,91,883 -5.1 25,98,000 21,30,000 -18.0
City
Bangalore 53 59 12,14,062 14,21,034 17.0 11,00,000 12,00,000 9.1
Chennai 8 4 8,92,125 9,30,750 4.3 9,17,500 9,37,500 2.2
Hyderabad 10 16 10,98,200 11,67,273 6.3 11,68,000 10,90,000 -6.7
Mumbai 6 6 11,55,633 15,46,667 33.8 8,66,400 15,00,000 73.1
NCR 9 11 20,31,667 18,08,482 -11.0 21,50,000 16,00,000 -25.6
Pune 59 49 9,62,862 12,72,709 32.2 7,50,000 10,50,000 40.0
Other 2 6 NA 6,79,833 NA 5,89,500
Age
22-24 7 0 3,11,286 NA 2,78,000 NA
25-26 11 5 5,10,982 5,70,000 11.5 4,70,000 6,00,000 27.7
27-28 12 11 5,48,500 7,18,636 31.0 6,00,000 7,00,000 16.7
29-30 19 18 8,09,266 7,96,445 -1.6 8,00,000 8,15,000 1.9
31-33 42 24 11,60,357 10,95,792 -5.6 9,50,000 9,80,000 3.2
34-37 32 46 15,73,964 15,89,109 1.0 13,00,000 14,68,500 13.0
38 and
above 24 46 16,44,052 16,75,574 1.9 17,25,000 14,65,000 -15.1

12. STC India 2015 Salary Survey 9
6. Trend
Year
Median
Salary in
INR
Median
Salary in
USD
($1=Rs.66.7)
2002 2,85,000 $4,273
2003 3,10,000 $4,648
2004
2005 3,65,627 $5,482
2006
2007 6,05,000 $9,070
2008 6,00,000 $8,996
2009 6,00,000 $8,996
2010 7,80,000 $11,694
2011 7,90,000 $11,844
2012 9,50,000 $14,243
2013 11,35,000 $17,016
2014 9,75,000 $14,618
2015 11,00,000 $16,492
0
2,00,000
4,00,000
6,00,000
8,00,000
10,00,000
12,00,000
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
MediansalaryinINR
Year

13. 10 STC India 2015 Salary Survey
7. Comparison with the salaries of Technical Communicators in the U.S.
*1 USD=66.7 INR
Year
Median
salaries in
India (USD)
Median
salaries in US
as reported by
US Dept. of
Labor (USD)
2000 47,790
2001 49,370
2002 4,273 50,580
2003 4,648 51,590
2004 53,490
2005 5,482 55,160
2006 58,050
2007 9,070 60,390
2008 8,996 61,620
2009 8,996 62,730
2010 11,694 63,280
2011 11,844 64,610
2012 14,243 65,500
2013 17,016 67,900
2014 14,618 69,030
2015 16,492
While comparing salaries in different geographies, you may want to consider other related factors such as cost of living, purchasing power parity, and so on.
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
80,000
2000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015
MediansalariesinUSD
Year
Median salaries in India (USD)
Median salaries in US as reported by US Dept. of Labor
(USD)