"How much should we pay?" is usually the first question an employer asks after deciding to hire an intern, and the hardest to answer from the outside. Stipends in India vary widely by role, city, company type and the intern's skill level. This post gives indicative ranges to help you set a starting point. They are not survey data or market averages; they are broad bands that reflect common practice and should be checked against your own city, sector and hiring experience. Treat them as a sanity check, not a rule.
Indicative monthly stipend ranges by role family
The ranges below assume a full-time, in-office internship at a small or mid-sized company in a metro city, for an undergraduate or recent graduate. All figures are indicative ranges in rupees per month, and actual stipends vary by city and company.
| Role family | Indicative range (₹ per month) | Typical upward drivers |
|---|---|---|
| Software development / engineering | 10,000 - 30,000 | Product companies, strong GitHub, backend or mobile skills |
| Data analytics / data science | 8,000 - 25,000 | SQL and Python depth, ML exposure, postgraduate students |
| UI/UX and graphic design | 7,000 - 20,000 | A strong portfolio, product design over pure graphics |
| Digital marketing / social media | 5,000 - 15,000 | Performance marketing, paid ads, analytics skills |
| Sales / business development | 5,000 - 15,000 plus incentives | Field roles, B2B sales, clear incentive plans |
| HR / recruitment | 5,000 - 12,000 | MBA-HR students, high-volume recruitment work |
| Finance / accounts | 6,000 - 15,000 | CA or CMA track, Excel modelling, audit exposure |
| Content writing | 5,000 - 12,000 | Technical or SEO writing, regional-language skills |
| Operations / supply chain | 6,000 - 15,000 | Warehouse or field responsibility, shift work |
Large technology firms and well-funded product companies often pay well above these bands, especially for engineering interns from strong programmes. Very early startups sometimes pay below them. Neither end changes the basic logic: pay enough to attract people who can do the work you described. If you are unsure between two figures, choose the higher one for your first hire; a strong first intern sets the standard for every intake after that.
How city and work mode shift the number
City cost of living matters most for in-office roles, because the intern is paying rent, food and travel. Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad and Pune tend to sit at the upper half of a range; tier-2 cities such as Indore, Jaipur, Nagpur, Coimbatore or Kochi often sit lower, while still attracting good candidates. If you hire locally in a tier-2 city, you may find that a stipend in the middle of the band makes you one of the more attractive employers in town; see our tier-2 city talent page.
Remote internships are often paid somewhat less than in-office ones because there is no commute or relocation, but the gap should be modest. A remote intern still needs a reliable laptop and internet; a small data allowance is a good gesture. The remote intern hiring page and work-from-home interns page cover the practicalities.
Other factors that move the stipend
- Hours. Pro-rate for part-time interns; a 20-hour week is roughly half a full-time stipend.
- Skill evidence over college name. Paying more for a strong portfolio or shipped project is more defensible than paying more for a college brand. Premium campuses, such as those you would reach through IIT Bombay hiring, do come with higher expectations, but a well-built project from any college deserves the upper half of the band.
- Level of study. Postgraduates and final-year students usually command more than first- or second-year students.
- Duration and conversion. A six-month internship with a real chance of a job offer can be priced a little lower than a short one, because the PPO itself is valuable, but only if the chance is real.
- Incentives. For sales roles, a clear, written incentive on top of a fixed stipend is fairer than a low fixed stipend with vague "performance pay".
Working out a number for your role
- Pick the role family in the table and start at the middle of the band.
- Move up for a metro in-office role, a demanding skill set or a strong portfolio requirement.
- Move down slightly for remote, part-time or tier-2 local hiring.
- Check the result in the internship stipend calculator.
- Check total cost, including your supervision time, in the intern hiring cost calculator.
- If you plan to convert, look at the pay-off in the intern-to-full-time ROI calculator.
Then post the role and watch the response. If you get very few relevant applicants in the first week, the stipend is one of the first things to revisit, alongside the job description. Equally, if you are flooded with applicants who clearly lack the must-have skills, a higher stipend will not fix that; tighten the requirements and add a screening question instead. Keep a note of the stipend you offered, the number of relevant applicants and whether your first-choice candidate accepted. After two or three hiring rounds, that simple record will be a better guide for your business than any published range.
Keep stipends consistent with a written policy
Once you hire more than one intern, inconsistency becomes a problem: two interns in the same team on very different stipends will find out. A short internship stipend policy fixes bands per role and level, the payment date, pro-rating rules and allowances. Reference the policy in every offer letter and review the bands once a year.
Is paying a stipend required at all?
That is a separate legal and ethical question, covered in do you have to pay interns in India. In short, paying a fair stipend is almost always the better business choice. On MyInternships.in, free posting is meant for paid roles; unpaid or very low-stipend roles need a paid plan, as explained on the pricing page.
Stipend and the role you are hiring for
If you are hiring in a particular function, our role pages set out what candidates in that area typically bring and how to attract them: software developer interns, data analyst interns, UI/UX interns, digital marketing interns, sales interns, HR interns, finance interns and content writing interns. For wider context on early-career hiring, see our hiring insights. When you have a number, post your internship with the stipend clearly stated; posts that show the figure up front tend to attract applicants whose expectations match.
Frequently asked questions
Are these stipend figures based on a survey?
No. They are indicative ranges reflecting common practice, meant as a starting point. Actual stipends vary by city, sector, company size and the intern's skills, so check them against your own market before deciding.
Should remote interns get the same stipend as office interns?
Many employers pay remote interns somewhat less because there is no travel or relocation cost, but the gap should be modest. A small internet or data allowance is a sensible addition.
How should I pay sales interns?
A fixed monthly stipend plus a clear, written incentive works better than a low fixed amount with vague performance pay. State the incentive formula in the offer letter.
Should I pay more to interns from top colleges?
Pay for evidence of skill, such as projects, portfolios and prior internships, rather than for the college name alone. Strong candidates from any college deserve the upper end of your band.
More hiring guides
- How to hire a fresher software developer
- How to screen fresher resumes
- Remote intern onboarding checklist
- Pre-placement offers: a guide for employers
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