If you’re curious about how much an AI engineer earns in India and why everyone is going towards AI careers, then you’re in the right place. The demand for AI experts is exploding like it never happened before. Salaries are rising, opportunities are expanding, and skilled professionals are getting their values. Let’s classify clearly how much an AI engineer earns by the role, city, and skills so you can clearly see about the bigger opportunities and how you can be part of this fast-growing future.
AI engineer salary India 2026
Artificial Intelligence engineering is becoming one of the highest paying careers in India and therefore its salaries are rising with years. This growth is happening because companies need more AI experts, but they are not able to find as many experienced people. By 2026, AI engineer’s salaries in India will depend mainly on their experience, location, and technical skills.
- Rise of Generative AI:
Skills in tools like mobile based models can increase salaries by 15–25%.
- Global Remote Jobs:
More Indians will work for foreign companies, which can result in earning 2x higher salaries in dollars.
- Certifications Increase Salary:
Certifications by trending companies like Google, AWS, and Azure AI can boost pay by 20–30%.
- Industry Matters:
AI in Finance, healthcare, e-commerce, and product companies offer 20–40% higher salaries than regular IT companies.
- Freelancing Is Growing:
Skilled freelancers can earn ₹1–8 lakh per project.
AI engineer salary by experience
AI engineer salaries in India vary depending upon experience and the salaries can become better as skills and leadership abilities.
- Freshers usually earn ₹6 lakh to ₹9 lakh per year, and students from top colleges can earn even more. As engineers gain hands-on experience,
- An intermediate level profession with 2–5 years of experience can earn ₹12 lakh to ₹20 lakh per year.
- Senior AI engineers with 7 or more years of experience can receive ₹25 lakh to ₹45 lakh or they can earn even higher salaries for roles such as AI architects, lead engineers, and experts in generative AI.
- Those with 10+ years of experience usually working as AI leads, heads, or architects often earn ₹40 lakh to ₹60 lakh or more, especially in top product-based companies.
- This higher pay is common for professionals who manage big teams, create AI strategies, or work on innovative technologies.
| Experience level | Average salary |
| 0 – 2 year (fresher) | ₹5 – 8 LPA |
| 2 – 5 year (mid- level) | ₹8 – 20 LPA |
| 5 – 10 year (senior) | ₹20 – 40 LPA |
| 10+ year (lead, architect) | ₹40 – 60 LPA or more |
Overall, career growth in AI depends heavily on specialised projects, on their leadership, and impact on the business making experience one of the strongest factors in salary potential.
AI engineer salary by job role
In a Job Role each role requires different skills and has their different level of impact.
- Machine Learning Engineers are in high demand and they can earn about ₹6–25 lakh per year because they build models which are used in banking, e-commerce, and many other industries.
- Data Scientists, who work with data analysis, usually earn ₹8–30 lakh per year, with even higher pay in fast growing companies.
- Engineers, who work on chatbots, search engines, and voice assistants, can earn ₹10–35 lakh per year because controlling language processing is a really complex skill.
- Computer Vision Engineers, who work on systems that understand images and videos, earn around ₹12–40 lakh per year, especially in healthcare, cars, and robotics.
- At the highest level, AI Architects design AI systems for companies and make important technical decisions. Their salaries range from ₹25 lakh to ₹60 lakh per year, reflecting their strong leadership and expertise.
|
Job roles |
Average salary (in ₹) |
| Machine Learning Engineer | ₹6 – 25 LPA |
| Data Scientist | ₹8 – 30 LPA |
| NLP Engineers (who deals with voice assistant) | ₹10 – 35 LPA |
| Computer Vision Engineer | ₹12 – 40 LPA |
| AI Research Scientist | ₹15 – 50 LPA |
| AI Architect | ₹25 – 60 LPA |
AI engineer salary by city India
The city by city difference mainly depends on how many tech companies are there, cost of living, and demand for AI skills.
- Bengaluru (considered Highest Paying)
Salary Range: ₹10 lakh to ₹40 lakh per year. As it concludes many global tech companies.
- Hyderabad
Salary Range: ₹8 lakh to ₹30 lakh
Good infrastructure and strong job market
- Pune & Mumbai
Salary Range: ₹7 lakh to ₹28 lakh
Strong IT and increase demands in finance, banking, and e-commerce companies
- Delhi and Chennai
Salary Range: ₹6 lakh to ₹20 lakh
Growth of tech industry but salaries remain moderate.
| City | Salary range |
| Hyderabad | ₹10 – 40 LPA |
| Bengaluru | ₹8 – 30 LPA |
| Pune and Mumbai | ₹7 – 25 LPA |
| Delhi and Chennai | ₹6 – 20 LPA |
Artificial Intelligence (AI) engineers are among the highest-paid professionals in the tech industry. Their salaries depend on several factors such as experience, location, skills, and job role. In India, AI engineer salaries are rising every year and are expected to grow even more by 2026 because of the increasing use of AI in healthcare, finance, education, and businesses.
