Before you sign an offer letter, it helps to know exactly what your CTC is made of. This calculator breaks your annual CTC into its actual components, Basic, HRA, allowances, employer PF, and gratuity, so you can see the structure behind the number, not just what lands in your account. Looking for the final take-home figure instead? Use our CTC to In-Hand Salary Calculator.

Salary breakup vs. take-home: what’s the difference

A salary breakup and an in-hand salary answer two different questions. Salary breakup shows how your employer has structured your CTC into components, useful when you’re reading an offer letter or comparing two offers with different structures. In-hand salary goes a step further and subtracts PF, professional tax, and income tax to show what actually reaches your bank account. This tool focuses on the first question; the components you see here (Basic, HRA, Special Allowance) are what determine your PF contribution and tax liability, but this calculator doesn’t compute either.

What each component in your breakup means

• Basic Salary: the foundation of your salary structure, typically 30-50% of CTC in most private-sector offer letters today. Your PF contribution, gratuity, and (if you’re in the old tax regime) HRA exemption are all calculated as a percentage of Basic, so a higher Basic usually means higher deductions but a larger retirement corpus.
• HRA (House Rent Allowance): conventionally set at 40-50% of Basic. Under the old tax regime, part of your HRA can be tax-exempt if you pay rent; under the New Tax Regime (the default since FY 2023-24), HRA exemption isn’t available at all.
• Special Allowance: the balancing component that absorbs whatever’s left after Basic, HRA, PF, and gratuity are accounted for. Most modern Indian CTC structures use this single catch-all bucket rather than the older practice of splitting out separate Conveyance and Medical allowances, since those specific exemptions were phased out when the standard deduction was introduced.
• Employer PF Contribution: 12% of Basic (or of Rs 15,000 if your employer applies the statutory wage ceiling), paid into your EPF account. It counts toward your CTC but isn’t part of your monthly payslip.
• Gratuity Provision: many employers set aside 4.81% of Basic as a gratuity provision within your CTC, even though gratuity is only paid out after 5 years of continuous service (or on earlier exit under specific conditions).

Frequently asked questions

Why do two job offers with the same CTC feel so different?

Because CTC alone doesn’t tell you the structure. One offer might set Basic at 50% of CTC with no bonus; another might set Basic at 35% and pad the rest with a “variable” component that isn’t guaranteed. Comparing the actual breakup, not just the headline CTC number, is the only way to compare offers accurately.

Should I ask for a higher Basic or a higher Special Allowance?

It depends on what you’re optimizing for. A higher Basic increases your PF contribution (forced long-term savings) and your gratuity accrual, but it also increases your own PF deduction, reducing monthly in-hand pay. A higher Special Allowance usually means more in-hand cash now with less going toward retirement savings. Neither is universally better; it’s a trade-off between monthly liquidity and long-term savings.

Is HRA still worth negotiating for if I’m on the New Tax Regime?

Not for the tax exemption, since the New Tax Regime doesn’t allow HRA exemption at all. HRA still shows up as a salary component either way, but under the new regime it’s simply taxed like any other allowance, so the split between HRA and Special Allowance makes no tax difference if you’ve moved to the new regime.

Why is my Special Allowance sometimes negative or zero in this calculator?

If your Basic % and HRA % settings, combined with Employer PF and Gratuity, add up to more than your total CTC, there’s nothing left for Special Allowance. Try lowering Basic % or HRA % under Advanced options; most real offer letters keep Basic in the 30-50% range specifically to avoid this.

Does every company use this same salary structure?

No. This calculator uses the most common Indian private-sector structure (Basic, HRA, Special Allowance, Employer PF, optional Gratuity), but some employers add separate line items like Leave Travel Allowance, meal cards, or fixed bonuses, and startups sometimes skip formal HRA altogether. Always check your actual offer letter or payslip for the exact breakup your employer uses.

Does this calculator show my take-home salary?

No, it shows Fixed Gross Pay, your salary before PF, professional tax, and income tax are deducted. For your actual in-hand number, use our CTC to In-Hand Salary Calculator, which applies those deductions on top of this same structure.

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