Cybersecurity Engineer Salary in India GCCs
Cybersecurity is the second fastest growing role family in India GCCs after Artificial Intelligence (plus 21 percent year on year). The bottleneck is senior talent, not budget; almost every GCC pays above band for Lead and Principal Security Engineers.
Key takeaways
- Bangalore and Hyderabad together host 68 percent of India GCC Cybersecurity headcount.
- Cloud Security and Application Security specialists carry a 20 to 35 percent premium over generalist Information Security.
- 24x7 Security Operations Centre roles sit 10 to 15 percent below Application Security at every level.
Salary bands by city (INR lakh per year, fixed CTC)
| Level | Years | Bangalore | Pune | Mumbai | Hyderabad |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SOC Analyst L1 / L2 | 0 to 3 | 7 to 14 | 6 to 12 | 7 to 13 | 7 to 13 |
| Security Engineer | 3 to 6 | 16 to 30 | 13 to 25 | 15 to 28 | 15 to 28 |
| Senior Security / Cloud Security Engineer | 6 to 10 | 30 to 55 | 25 to 46 | 28 to 52 | 28 to 52 |
| Lead / Staff Security Engineer | 10 to 14 | 55 to 95 | 46 to 80 | 52 to 90 | 52 to 90 |
| Principal Security / CISO India | 14+ | 95 to 180 | 80 to 150 | 90 to 170 | 90 to 170 |
All numbers are fixed Cash To Hand (CTC) in INR lakh per year. Add 22 to 28 percent statutory and benefits loading for fully loaded cost. Variable pay and Restricted Stock Units are separate.
Important context
- Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and major Cloud Security certifications add 12 to 18 percent.
- Banking, Financial Services and Insurance Cybersecurity roles in Mumbai pay 8 to 12 percent above other sectors.
Frequently asked questions
24x7 Security Operations Centre with 15 to 25 Full Time Equivalents, fully staffed in 90 to 120 days in Bangalore or Hyderabad.
Cloud Security architecture, Application Security at scale and Detection Engineering. Plan for 4 to 6 months to hire each Lead, twice as long if you want a marquee name.
Other role benchmarks
Map these bands to your hiring plan
Share your target headcount and we will return a fully loaded plan: salary, statutory, variable, real estate, IT and overhead, by month, for 24 months.