• USD$ = 95.23₹ down 0.15 percent since the previous update• GBP£ = 127.58₹ up 0.49 percent since the previous update• EUR€ = 106.53₹ up 0.29 percent since the previous update• CAD$ = 68.15₹ down 0.01 percent since the previous update• AUD$ = 66.91₹ down 0.39 percent since the previous update• AED = 25.94₹ unchanged, 0.00 percent since the previous update• SAR = 25.40₹ unchanged, 0.00 percent since the previous update• JPY¥100 = 60.44₹ up 0.05 percent since the previous update• SGD$ = 74.53₹ up 0.11 percent since the previous update• NZD$ = 53.67₹ up 0.19 percent since the previous update• SEK = 9.69₹ up 0.73 percent since the previous update
• India Repo rate 5.50% raised CPI 5.5% up on the month before Sep • UK Bank Rate 3.75% cut CPI 3.5% up on the month before Sep • US Fed funds 4.00% raised CPI 3.7% up on the month before Sep • Euro area Deposit rate 2.50% raised CPI 3.8% up on the month before Sep • Canada Policy rate 2.25% cut CPI 3.1% up on the month before Sep • Australia Cash rate 4.60% raised CPI 4.3% up on the month before Sep
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All NRIs

Salary comparison: India vs abroad

Exchange rates make foreign salaries look enormous. Purchasing power shows what they buy.

Why the usual comparison is wrong. Converting a salary at the exchange rate tells you almost nothing — £1 buys far more in India than the rate implies. This converts at purchasing power instead, then adjusts for where you would actually live. Most comparisons quietly price central London or Manhattan; the defaults here are Harrow, Edison, Brampton and Parramatta, with the commute those places require costed in.

How would you work?

Abroad

India

Like-for-like equivalent

realistic range to

Straight currency conversion says

Overstated by

once tax, prices and commuting are counted

What this means

  • Converting the salary at the exchange rate overstates it about . To live as well in , you would need about a year, not .
  • Here the exchange rate understates the move: you would need about in to live as well, more than the a straight conversion gives.
  • Read the range, to , rather than the single figure. The price data for these areas is .
  • This counts tax, local prices and commuting. It leaves out career prospects, family support and how long you plan to stay, which often decide the move.
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Gross salary
Less tax & social security
Take-home
Less commuting & fixed costs
Spendable
Effective tax rate
Local price level

Equivalent gross salary
Take-home there
Less commuting & fixed costs
Spendable
Local price level

Both sides buy the same basket of goods and services once you get here.

And what your employer puts away for you

Retirement contributions are not spendable now, so they are kept out of the comparison above — but they are real pay, and the spread between countries is far wider than most people expect.

For families these two lines routinely matter more than the tax difference. International school fees in the Gulf and Singapore can consume an entire salary premium; a home owned outright or a family property removes the largest cost in the budget.

Owning outright in India is the single most common reason a return works financially when the salary comparison says it should not.

The same salary, different neighbourhoods

Identical pay and identical tax — only the address changes. This is why benchmarking against a city centre misleads.

AreaPrice levelCommuteEquivalent

How this is worked out. Take-home pay is computed under each country's own 2026 income tax and social security rules, commuting is deducted, and what is left is converted using the World Bank PPP conversion factor for private consumption, scaled by a location factor. Location factors use 1 + 0.35 × (local rent ÷ national average rent − 1) — only the housing part of a budget really moves with your address, so a suburb at 1.5× national rent costs about 1.18× national, not 1.5×.

A salary comparison, not an offer valuation. Excludes employer pension and superannuation contributions, healthcare (significant in the US, largely free at the point of use in the UK), childcare, school fees and visa costs — all of which can move the answer more than tax does. US figures are federal only and ignore state income tax, which ranges from nothing in Texas to over 10% in California; Canadian figures use Ontario. Indian salaries assume you become an Indian tax resident, so the section 87A rebate applies — unlike the position for NRI rental income. See the DTAA estimator if you will have income in both countries.

NRIWallah team

Updated September 2026 · 3 min read

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Convert a £75,000 London offer at the exchange rate and it comes to about ₹96 lakh. That figure only matters when you send money home. The exchange rate reflects goods traded across borders, while most of a salary goes on things that are not: rent, school fees, a plumber, vegetables, an auto to the office.

Compared on purchasing power, £75,000 in London buys roughly what ₹16.5 lakh buys in India. The exchange rate overstates it by nearly six times.

Where you would live

Many comparisons assume a life in the city centre, where few NRIs live. Average private rent in Kensington and Chelsea is about £3,591 a month; in Harrow, home to one of the UK’s largest Indian communities, it is around £1,759. Same city, same tax system, same job market.

So the defaults are areas where Indian communities are concentrated: Harrow, Wembley, Southall and Ilford in London; Edison and Iselin in New Jersey; Brampton in Ontario; Surrey in British Columbia; and Parramatta in Sydney.

The commute

Cheaper rent in the suburbs comes with fares. An annual Zones 1–5 Travelcard from Harrow into central London costs about £2,784, plus around ninety minutes a day. The calculator subtracts the fare; the time is yours to weigh. The same trade applies in Bangalore and Gurgaon, where commutes can be worse, and in the UAE, where many Indian families live in Sharjah and commute to Dubai.

Read the range

Each result is a range, because the data behind it varies by country and the Indian side rests on an assumption about city prices. Use the range as the answer and the midpoint as a guide; the questions below explain how it is built.

What it leaves out

  • Pension contributions from employers, worth a great deal in the UK and Australia.
  • Healthcare, largely free at the point of use in the UK, Canada and Australia and a major cost in the US.
  • Childcare and international school fees, which in the Gulf and Singapore can absorb a whole salary premium.
  • Visa costs, the Immigration Health Surcharge, and whether the job leads to permanent residence.
  • State income tax in the US: US figures are federal only.

No calculator prices ageing parents, whether your spouse can work, or where your children will feel at home. This one corrects a badly framed comparison; it does not make the decision.

This page covers earnings. For spending, what your household’s outgoings become in another city, use cost of living compare, which uses the same price levels. If you are weighing a return to India, the home loan comparison covers borrowing on either side of the move.

NRIWallah does not provide financial or immigration advice. Tax rates are for the 2026 tax years and simplified: US figures are federal only and Canadian figures use Ontario. Check anything important with a qualified adviser.

Common questions

It depends on the country, which is why each answer is a range. UK figures are strong, based on official rents by local authority. US and Canadian figures are reasonable, but come from listing sites whose national medians differ by a few hundred dollars. Australian, UAE and Indian figures are indicative, because the data is thin or inconsistent. The range widens from about ±5% to ±20% as the data weakens.
The purchasing power figure for India is a national one that includes rural India, where prices are lower. Nobody comparing job offers is moving to a village, so Indian city figures are raised by a factor of 1.25. That is the largest assumption in the model: a case could be made for 1.15 or 1.35, and the answer moves with it. It is one reason the Indian side of the range is wide.
Yes; switch the direction so it runs the way you are thinking. Returning NRIs often settle in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune or Gurgaon, and the city makes a large difference, so check the neighbourhood table. If you will keep income or assets abroad, your tax is more complicated than a salary swap: the RNOR tracker covers the status that can keep foreign income out of Indian tax for two or three years after you return, and the DTAA estimator covers income taxed in both countries.
Because on this measure they usually are. The UAE has no personal income tax, so the 25% to 40% that tax and social security take from a comparable UK, US, Canadian or Australian salary is absent. What the calculation cannot show is what you give up: no route to citizenship, residence tied to your job, school fees that are rarely subsidised and no state pension building up.

Every rate and threshold here is sourced, dated and shown on the page — but tax rules change, and we would rather be told than be wrong. Reports go to the team that maintains the tool. If you can point at the official source, that gets it fixed fastest.

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Prefer email? admin@nriwallah.com. How we source and review these numbers is set out in our methodology.

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