AI/ML Engineer salary in India, 2026: every source, side by side.

The short answer

If you want one source, use AmbitionBox: it shows a range for each experience band and how many salaries sit behind it. Here is what it showed for AI Engineers and ML Engineers on 17 October 2026.

Sources: AmbitionBox, AI Engineer1 and ML Engineer2 salaries in India, pages updated 15 Oct 2026, read 17 Oct 2026. Ranges as AmbitionBox shows them.

There’s no band for under a year: few people start straight in an AI or ML Engineer title, and first roles pay less. Here is what first jobs showed:

Sources: PayScale (11 Jul 2026),3 foundit (2 Sep 2026)6 and Taggd (4 Sep 2026).7 GCCs are global capability centres, the in-house technology centres of global companies.

So the realistic plan for most people is a first role in data science, analytics or software, then the move into an AI or ML title. You can start in one directly when you can show the skills.

AI, ML, Gen AI and MLOps compared

On AmbitionBox, AI Engineers earn the most of the four at 3–6 years, and the Gen AI Engineer title the least.

Source: AmbitionBox, as of 17 Oct 2026.128

• An AI Engineer builds AI into products end to end, from LLM applications to vision and speech, and leans on software engineering.
• An ML Engineer trains, deploys and maintains machine learning models, such as fraud scores, recommendations and forecasts.
• An MLOps Engineer runs models in production: deployment, monitoring, cost and automated releases.
• A Gen AI Engineer builds applications on large language models: assistants, document readers and agents.

Why is the Gen AI title lowest? On AmbitionBox, 370 of its 567 salaries come from IT services and consulting, where it shows ₹7.9–8.9 lakh, and nearly all come from people with under six years’ experience.8 Market reports on GenAI work land higher: TeamLease Digital puts a GenAI Developer at ₹11.2 LPA with 0–2 years and ₹34.5 LPA at 6–8 years.9 Our guide to generative AI jobs in India covers those roles in full.

Against Data Scientists, AI Engineers sit in about the same bands: AmbitionBox shows Data Scientists at ₹11.3–12.5 lakh with 1–3 years and ₹15–16.6 lakh with 3–6 years.10 Our Data Scientist salary guide has the detail.

Why the sources disagree

Six readings of nearly the same job, with figures from about ₹10 lakh to about ₹35 lakh. None of them is wrong: they count different people and different kinds of pay.

All read on 17 Oct 2026. Sources: AmbitionBox,21 Indeed,1112 PayScale3 and Levels.fyi.4

Four things explain the gap:

• Whose salaries are counted. Employees’ own reports (AmbitionBox), pay stated in job postings (Indeed), salary surveys (PayScale), or packages from people at product and big-tech firms (Levels.fyi).
• What counts as pay. Base salary alone, or total pay with stock and bonuses, which can be several lakh more.
• Experience. An average that mixes freshers with eight-year veterans describes neither.
• Sample size. Fifty-one salaries can swing a lot; thousands are steadier.

So compare like with like: the same experience band and the same kind of pay. For a first or second AI or ML role, the AmbitionBox bands and PayScale’s early-career figures are the closest to what you’re likely to be offered.

By city and employer

On AmbitionBox, Bengaluru pays AI and ML Engineers the most, but the kind of employer moves pay far more than the city.

Source: AmbitionBox, all experience levels in each city, as of 17 Oct 2026.12 Other sources order the cities differently: Indeed’s job postings put Noida first for ML Engineers, at ₹23,57,419.11

Source: AmbitionBox, as of 17 Oct 2026.12

On these figures, software product companies pay AI Engineers about twice what IT services firms do. Global capability centres sit at the higher end too: NASSCOM counts 2,117 GCCs in India, employing 2.36 million people,13 and Taggd puts their entry AI and GenAI roles at ₹12–25 LPA.7 At senior levels the city gap widens: foundit found senior AI professionals in Bengaluru earn ₹61.70–91.25 LPA, roughly 10–15% more than in NCR or Mumbai.6

What moves your number

AI skills

This is the biggest lever. Naukri’s AI Jobs Report found median salaries 53% higher for AI-skilled roles, with premiums of up to 56% for freshers and 32% for people with 13–16 years’ experience.5 The World Bank found a 28% wage premium for AI-focused roles in South Asia, against 12% for roles needing general digital skills.14

How close you sit to building AI

TeamLease Digital sorts tech roles into three tiers: AI-Core roles that build AI systems, AI-Adjacent roles that apply it, and AI-Support roles that keep it running. Pay pulls apart by tier from the start.9

Source: TeamLease Digital, Digital Skills & Salary Primer FY2026–27, from 37,000 roles, 29 Sep 2026.9

On our program, the AI-Core skills are the AI Engineer Stack: GenAI & LLMs (Module 8, on Plus and Infinity), then Production RAG & LLMOps and Agentic AI (Modules 9 and 10, on Infinity). See them week by week in the curriculum.

Where demand is heading

Demand for AI/ML talent grows fastest at the top of the pay scale. In March 2026, AI/ML hiring on Naukri grew 37%, and fastest in the ₹50 LPA-plus band (+55%), ahead of the ₹30–39 LPA (+41%) and ₹40–49 LPA (+40%) bands.15 In September 2026, Naukri reported AI/ML hiring up 54% for people with 13–16 years’ experience, 28% for 8–12 years and 19% for freshers.16 Experience plus AI skills is where demand is strongest.

Changing roles, not waiting for raises

Aon’s survey put India’s average salary increase at 9% in 2026, and projected 9.1% for 2027.17 At 9% a year, ₹8 lakh takes about five years to pass ₹12 lakh. A move into an AI or ML role can get there in one step, which is why most big jumps in pay come with a new role rather than a raise.

Your minimum salary assured, worked out

On our Data Science & AI Job Guarantee Program, no fee after placement is due until a job pays at least your plan’s minimum salary assured. On Infinity, our plan for AI/ML Engineer roles, that’s ₹12 LPA or your salary + 85%, whichever is higher. Enter your fixed annual pay to see yours on each plan.

CTC, fixed pay and in-hand

Salary sites mostly quote yearly CTC (cost to company) as people report it, and Levels.fyi adds stock and bonuses on top. Your monthly in-hand pay is lower: CTC also counts your employer’s PF contribution, gratuity, insurance and any variable pay or bonus, and your own PF and income tax come out of what is left.

When we decide whether a job counts towards your minimum salary assured, we look only at fixed annual pay. In the words of our FAQ:

Questions

Sources

1. AmbitionBox, AI Engineer salary in India, as of 17 Oct 2026.
2. AmbitionBox, Machine Learning Engineer salary in India, as of 17 Oct 2026.
3. PayScale, Machine Learning Engineer salary in India, 11 Jul 2026, read 17 Oct 2026.
4. Levels.fyi, Machine Learning Engineer pay in India, 16 Oct 2026, read 17 Oct 2026.
5. Naukri, AI Jobs Report, 16 Jul 2025.
6. foundit salary report, reported by IANS in Telangana Today, 2 Sep 2026.
7. Taggd, GCC skills in demand, from the GCC Talent Lab Report 2026, 4 Sep 2026.
8. AmbitionBox, Gen AI Engineer and MLOps Engineer salaries in India, as of 17 Oct 2026.
9. TeamLease Digital, Digital Skills & Salary Primer FY2026–27, reported in CXOToday, 29 Sep 2026.
10. AmbitionBox, Data Scientist salary in India, as of 17 Oct 2026.
11. Indeed, Machine Learning Engineer salaries in India, 28 Sep 2026, read 17 Oct 2026.
12. Indeed, AI Developer salaries in India, 10 Oct 2026, read 17 Oct 2026.
13. NASSCOM, GCC Runway Monitor, 9 Oct 2026.
14. World Bank, South Asia Development Update, October 2025.
15. Naukri, JobSpeak, March 2026, 6 Apr 2026.
16. Naukri, JobSpeak, September 2026, 6 Oct 2026.
17. Aon, Salary Increase and Turnover Survey 2026–27, reported in Telangana Today, 14 Oct 2026.