AI engineers in India command 30–80% pay premiums over peers

Nearly 65% of India's tech hiring demand is now concentrated in AI/ML, cloud, and cybersecurity. AI/ML alone accounts for 13% of all tech openings — and skills tagged with generative AI or LLM are up 26% year-on-year.

That scarcity translates directly to pay. AI-specialised engineers earn 30–80% more than non-AI peers at the same experience level. Companies have budgeted 15–20% annual increments for critical AI roles, well above the 8–10% norm. Senior LLM engineers are crossing ₹70 LPA, with the very top of the band (system-design plus distributed training experience) commanding more.

The filter is execution-ready talent — people who can ship production systems, not just academic models. Side projects with real users, deployed and measurable, are doing more for candidates than certifications.

If you're switching into AI from a generalist software background, focus on three things: one production-grade RAG or fine-tuning project on GitHub, measurable performance numbers (latency, accuracy, cost), and an honest write-up of trade-offs.