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Salary folklore, corrected: honest PRT/TGT/PGT bands for every major market — and why the highest number on the offer letter is often not the best offer.
Ask what teachers earn in India and you'll get folklore: a cousin's number from 2019, a coaching-centre poster, a Quora thread. Schools rarely publish bands, so candidates negotiate blind — and routinely misjudge offers by comparing salaries across cities as if rent were the same everywhere. This guide puts honest 2026 numbers on the table, city by city, then does the cost-of-living math that folklore skips.
A note on method: these ranges reflect established private CBSE schools — the segment we hire in and benchmark against. Budget schools sit below these bands; elite international schools sit above them. Within any band, experience, subject scarcity (Maths, Physics, Computer Science command premiums everywhere) and verifiable board results decide where you land. If the PRT/TGT/PGT vocabulary is new, start with our explainer on the three levels.
The 2026 city table
| City | PRT (Grades 1–5) | TGT (Grades 6–10) | PGT (Grades 11–12) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delhi NCR | ₹30,000 – ₹65,000 | ₹38,000 – ₹85,000 | ₹45,000 – ₹1,10,000 |
| Mumbai | ₹30,000 – ₹65,000 | ₹38,000 – ₹85,000 | ₹45,000 – ₹1,10,000 |
| Bangalore | ₹28,000 – ₹65,000 | ₹35,000 – ₹80,000 | ₹40,000 – ₹1,00,000+ |
| Hyderabad | ₹25,000 – ₹55,000 | ₹32,000 – ₹70,000 | ₹38,000 – ₹90,000 |
| Pune | ₹25,000 – ₹55,000 | ₹32,000 – ₹70,000 | ₹38,000 – ₹90,000 |
| Chennai | ₹24,000 – ₹50,000 | ₹30,000 – ₹65,000 | ₹35,000 – ₹85,000 |
| Tier-2 Karnataka (Ballari, Mysuru, Hubballi) | ₹18,000 – ₹40,000 | ₹25,000 – ₹50,000 | ₹30,000 – ₹65,000 |
Read the columns, not just the rows: the gap between a fresher and an experienced teacher within one city is larger than the gap between cities. Your fastest raise is rarely a city move — it's the experience, results and subject depth that move you rightward in the band.
The math folklore skips: cost of living
A metro salary and a tier-2 salary are different currencies. Consider a TGT choosing between ₹50,000 in East Bangalore and ₹35,000 in Ballari. A one-bedroom flat near a Bangalore campus runs ₹18,000–₹25,000; the equivalent in Ballari runs ₹7,000–₹10,000, and the commute shrinks from an hour to ten minutes. After rent and transport, the two offers are close to equivalent — and the tier-2 teacher is often senior faculty at a growing school rather than one of thirty TGTs at an established one. We've written the full case study in our Ballari guide.
This doesn't make metros wrong — Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai have the deepest markets, the most schools to move between, and the highest ceilings, which our Bangalore guide maps in detail. It makes 'which number is bigger' the wrong comparison.
Five questions that change what an offer is worth
- Is pay 12-month or 10-month? Good schools pay through the summer break; some budget schools quietly don't. This alone is a ~17% difference on identical headline numbers.
- What's the tuition discount for your own children? At fee levels of ₹1–2 lakh a year, a 50–100% staff discount can be the single largest component of real compensation.
- Health insurance and PF: employer-paid family cover and honest PF treatment are worth thousands a month against a school that skips them.
- Paid professional development: schools that fund certifications and training are paying you in future salary, not just current salary.
- Increment history, not increment promises: ask what last year's average raise actually was. A school with published bands and real increments beats a higher joining number that never moves — it's why we publish ours on the Benefits page.
And remember what moves you within any band fastest: results with witnesses. A CV that says 'board average up from 79% to 87%' beats a city move — our resume guide shows how to present exactly that.
NCFE Schools publishes its salary bands openly — anchored at or above 7th CPC entry gross — across four campuses in Bangalore and Ballari.
See our pay bands →
