Project Manager Salary in India

Salary is usually calculated by comparing market pay rates for people doing similar tasks in similar industries and in the same region. 

What is a project?

A project is a series of steps that a person or group must follow to achieve a specific outcome. According to the PMI (Project Management Institute), a project is “any temporary endeavor with a definite beginning and end.”

What exactly is a Project Manager?

A project manager is an expert in overseeing a specific project’s overall planning and execution. They collaborate closely with an organization’s upper management to ensure that the scope and timeline of a project are on track. A project manager’s responsibilities are closely related to the overall project management life cycle. PMI refers to project managers as “Change Agents” who use their best skills and tools to ensure the success of a project.

Let’s move forward and understand how much you can expect to earn as a project manager and the factors that can influence your salary. But, before we begin, let’s go over the topics that we will cover in this blog:

1. Average project manager salary
2. Factors influencing the salary of a project manager
   • Experience
   • Location
   • Company-type
   • Education
   • Certifications
3. Roles and responsibilities of a project manager
4. Top two courses for a beginner-level candidate
5. Best two courses for an intermediate-level candidate
6. Best two courses for an expert-level candidate
7. Frequently asked questions

Average project manager salary

As per Ambitionbox, dated 22/05/2024, India’s average project manager salary ranges from ₹ 4.1 Lakhs to ₹ 25.6 Lakhs, with an annual average wage of ₹ 18.4 Lakhs. These figures are based on 10.4k latest salary insights received from project managers all over the country.

Factors influencing the salary of a project manager

Experience

Your level of experience can significantly impact your salary in many industries. This is especially true in project management, where practical knowledge is as valuable as formal education. According to Ambitionbox, dated 18/05/2022, the average salary for a project manager in India with six to seven years of experience is 8.7 Lacks.

Years of experience have a significant impact on your earning potential. For example, entry-level project managers earn 25,000-30000 less than experienced project managers. This curve rises as your career progresses.

Let’s go through the salary based on experience in the form of a table:

Experience	Salary (LPA)
6-7	8.7
7-8	9.5
8-9	10.3
9-10	11.2
10-11	12.5
11-12	13.8
12-13	14.4
13-14	15.1
14-15	15.7
15+	15.9

Location

Project managers in certain cities will earn significantly more than others, according to Ambitionbox data. If you worked in Bangalore or Pune, your salary could rise by 15% to 18%. Your home and workplace location can have a multiplier effect on your project manager’s salary.

Employees’ wages depend on their location’s standard market rate, which could be their city, state, or even country. Other factors include the employee’s experience level and expertise and the company’s pay philosophy.

Assume you are offered a project manager position at a company based in Bangalore but live in Lucknow. In that case, you may be provided 7.3 Lacks – the average pay in that area – rather than 16.0 Lakhs, which is the average pay for a project manager in Bangalore.

Let’s have a look at the pay scale being offered to a project manager in some major cities:

Location	Average salary (LPA)
Hyderabad	15.3
Chennai	15.0
Pune	16.0
New Delhi	10.6
Mumbai	13.0

Company-type

Salary ranges for each pay grade are typically included in pay structures, indicating that every pay level has a minimum and max salary bracket. Companies develop their compensation structures by analyzing external and internal compensation data. Now let us look at the salary ranges for project managers in various organizations.

Company-type	Average salary (LPA)
Forbes Global 2000	17.0
Public	16.0
Fortune India 500	16.0
Conglomerate	16.0
Startup	10.0
Government	14.7
MNC	18.0

Education

Earning a business-related degree, such as an MBA, can help you develop the leadership skills that employers seek and pave the way for a future career in executive management. This is one of the factors that can affect a project manager’s salary. As a result, an undergraduate candidate will get less than a graduate or doctoral degree candidate.

Certifications

Hands-on experience, as in many other professions, can often speak louder than certification alone. Earning a project management certification can help you demonstrate your abilities to recruiters. It can also assist you in gaining expertise in areas where you may be lacking. Some of the certifications that a project management candidate can do are:

0-3 Years Experience

1. Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM): This exam is available to professionals at any level of their project management careers. It makes it a good choice for those who are just starting out. The exam covers a variety of learning objectives, including project communication and risk management.
2. PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP): The exam validates your knowledge of Agile project management. Agile project management is a style that focuses on short sprints and adaptability. The exam consists of 100 scored items covering various topics, such as problem detection, resolution, and adaptive planning.
3. Disciplined Agile: This exam provides four Disciplined Agile certifications: DASM, DASSM, DAC, and DAVSC. Each certificate examines a different level of expertise. The certifications enable new users to learn the fundamentals of the methodology while also allowing more experienced users to broaden their skill sets.

Some of the courses that can help you in these exams are:

1. Project Execution: Running the Project
2. Project Management Professional PMP 35 Contact Hours
3. Capstone: Applying Project Management in the Real World

3+ Years Experience

1. Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA): This exam has 175 scored questions. It will put you to the test in terms of assessment, planning, supervising, analysis, and other criteria related to the business analysis aspects of project management.
2. Project Management Professional (PMP): This exam is one of the most well-known and widely accepted certificates in this field. This exam consists of 175 scored questions covering topics such as project scope planning and management and stakeholder engagement.

Some of the courses that can help you in these exams are:

1. SPJIMR – Executive Certificate Programme in Advanced Project Management
2. Project Management 101
3. IIM Calcutta – Advanced Programme in Strategic Project Management

8+ Years Experience

1. Program Management Professional (PgMP^®): This prestigious exam recognizes the advanced experience, abilities, and performance needed to handle and align a portfolio of projects and programs to achieve organizational strategy and objectives. This exam indicates an immense level of knowledge and implementable expertise.
2. Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP^®): This prestigious certification recognizes your advanced proficiency in coordinated management with one or even more portfolios to achieve strategic goals.

Some of the courses that can help you in these exams are:

1. Sprint Planning for Faster Agile Team Delivery
2. Project Management: Mastering Complexity

Here is a list of some of the specialization certifications:

1. PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP^®)
2. PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP^®)
3. Agile Hybrid Project Pro^™ (AHPP^™)
4. Agile Metrics Micro-Credential (AM-MC)
5. Citizen Developer Practitioner (CD-P)
6. Citizen Developer Business Architect (CDBA)

Roles and responsibilities of a project manager

Some of the common roles and responsibilities of a project manager are:

1. Keeping distractions at bay for the team
2. Assisting with problem resolution
3. Managing the project’s changes
4. Continuous project monitoring
5. Recruiting and managing key personnel
6. Choosing the appropriate project management frameworks and methodologies
7. Keeping and publishing project reports

To provide a better understanding of project manager’s roles and responsibilities, we have divided them according to the project development life cycle:

Initiation (Step 1)

In this step, the project manager identifies the nature and scope of the project. The project manager is also responsible for conducting a feasibility analysis. In this step, the project manager is responsible for answering various questions, such as:

1. What assumptions will the project be based on?
2. What issues will this project address?
3. Which tasks will be excluded from the project’s scope?
4. What are the project’s expected outcomes and key performance indicators?
5. What is the project’s significance, and which goals are it aligned with?

To learn about these roles and responsibilities, a candidate can refer to the courses:

1. Initiating and Planning Projects
2. Project Integration Management

Both of these courses are discussed in the later section of the article.

Planning (Step 2)

In this phase, the project managers create a detailed plan that details time, cost, and resources needed. In this step, he or she is also in charge of a variety of other tasks, such as:

1. Creating a project communication strategy
2. Developing a comprehensive project plan
3. Outlining project deliverables and milestones
4. Establishing the project’s cost, quality, timeliness, and so on

To learn about these roles and responsibilities, a candidate can refer to the courses:

1. Initiating and Planning Projects
2. Project Management Principles, Practices, and Systems

Both of these courses are discussed in the later section of the article.

Execution (Step 3)

The project manager is responsible for managing various tasks during this phase, such as:

1. Risk administration
2. Management of Change
3. Time, Price, and Quality
4. Acceptance administration
5. Procurement and problem resolution

To learn about these roles and responsibilities, a candidate can refer to the courses:

1. Initiating and Planning Projects
2. Project Integration Management

Both of these courses are discussed in the later section of the article.

Finishing (Step 4)

It is the end of the project, and at this point, the project managers perform and review all project closure activities. In this step, a project manager is also in charge of a variety of other tasks, such as:

1. Measuring the benefits and objectives of a project
2. Contrast the actual project cost with the projected budget.
3. Project milestones should be highlighted.
4. Documenting the processes for future use

To learn about these roles and responsibilities, a candidate can refer to the courses:

1. Initiating and Planning Projects
2. Project Execution and Control

Both of these courses are discussed in the later section of the article.

Top course for a beginner-level candidate

Here’s the list of top two courses to start with if you want to become a project manager; these courses can be done by a candidate having zero year’s experience:

Initiating and Planning Projects

This is one of Coursera‘s introductory-level courses. This course will identify key project characteristics and primary project constraints, define the project manager’s role and responsibilities, and identify Project Organizational Structures. The course will also teach you various other things, such as defining a project stakeholder and identifying them? This course has a 4.8-star rating.

Why should you choose the Initiating and Planning Projects course?

1. Teaches you how to determine a project’s key characteristics
2. Helps you to determine the primary project constraints
3. Explains the project manager’s role and responsibilities
4. Helps in understanding the project’s organizational structures
5. Comprehends what a Project Stakeholder is
6. Illustrates the goal of utilizing a project charter
7. Summarizes the main components of a project plan
8. Helps in recognizing common sources of conflict in a project environment

Project Integration Management

This is an introductory-level course on Udemy. This course focuses solely on Project Integration Management and is divided into ten sections, each with 29 video lectures lasting approximately 3 hours and six quiz sections containing over 100 questions. The course will also teach you Project Integration Management: Overview, Develop Project Charter, Develop Project Management Plan, Direct and Manage Project Work, Monitor and Control Project Work, Perform Integrated Change Control, Close Project Phase, and PMP Preparation Tips. This course has a 5.0-star rating.

Why should you choose the Project Integration Management course? 

1. Helps in recognizing the significance of tightly integrated project management processes in achieving much-needed success
2. Assists in identifying the essential requirements of inter-process relationships
3. Helps in understanding the relationships and complementary nature of inputs, tools, techniques, and outputs

Some of the other beginner-level courses are:

1. Persuasion and Presence for Program and Project Managers
2. Google Agile Project Management
3. Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project

Best course for an intermediate-level candidate

Here’s the list of top two courses for an intermediate-level candidate; these courses can be done by a person having 2-4 year’s experience:

Cognixia PMP Training Course

This is an intermediate-level course on Cognixia. This course will teach you about various topics, such as Enterprise Environmental Factors, Organization Process Assets, Organizational Systems, Project Managers Sphere of Influence, Project, Manager Competencies, Performing Integration, Organizational Systems, Project Manager Skills, Project Management Processes Stakeholders Analysis & Management, Project Management Office: Role, Purpose, & Responsibilities, Organization Structure, Types of Project Organization Structure (Functional, Matrix, Projectized Structure), and Project vs. Product Lifecycle. This course has a 4.5-star rating.

Why should you choose the Cognixia PMP Training Course course? 

1. Provides you with live online training for 35 hours, including live POC and assignments
2. Consists of online sessions with a live and interactive instructor from the industry
3. Allows you to connect to an expert technical team for query resolutions
4. Access to Lifetime Learning Management System (LMS) from anywhere in the world
5. Ensures quality service levels

Project Management Principles, Practices, and Systems

This is one of FutureLearn‘s introductory-level courses. This course will teach you about various topics, such as the Project Lifecycle, Risk Management, Project Information and Communications, Closing a Project, Project Management Software, Agile Project, Management, and Operations Management. The duration of this course is two weeks.

Why should you choose the Project Management Principles, Practices and Systems course? 

1. Improves your understanding of how projects fit into the larger picture of the organization
2. Describes the duties and responsibilities of a Project Manager
3. Helps you to understand the significance of risk management, communication strategies, change management, and project closure methods
4. Assists in learning how and why project managers must appreciate the international perspective of their projects

Some of the other intermediate-level courses are:

1. XLRI Executive Development Program in Project Management for Senior Professionals
2. Basics of Project Management
3. Foundations of Project Management

Best course for an expert-level candidate

Here’s the list of top two courses for an intermediate-level candidate; these courses can be done by a person having 4+ year’s experience:

Certified Scrum Master

This is one of StarAgile’s expert-level courses. This course teaches you Agile and Empiricism, How empiricism works in Scrum, Agile Values and Principles, Facilitation Techniques for Decision Making, and Convergent and Divergent thinking.

This course also helps you understand Active Listening, Facilitating Product Backlog creation, Facilitating Product Backlog Refinement, Facilitating writing of good Backlog items, Coaching Product OwnerService to Development Team, and Coaching the team for Self-Organization. The course has a 4.9-star rating.

Why should you choose the Certified Scrum Master course? 

1. Teaches how to increase your agile team’s engagement, motivation, and productivity
2. Guides how to coach product owners, project managers, and others to gain their support
3. Helps to understand the techniques for energizing your sprint planning and retrospective meetings

Project Execution and Control

This is one of Coursera’s expert-level courses. This course focuses on the project management process. In this course, you will learn about various topics, such as Execution Phase, Earned Value Management Basics, Updating Project, Progress Using ProjectLibre, Earned Value Analysis, Evaluating Project Cost, Using ProjectLibre, Evaluating Project Schedule Using ProjectLibre, Project Tracking, and Closing Phase. This course has a 5.0-star rating.

Why should you choose the Project Execution and Control course? 

1. Helps in successfully executing the plan and delivering it within the allocated timeframe and cost
2. Teaches how to execute an agile approach

Some of the other intermediate-level courses are:

1. EMBA – Project Leadership Management
2. Project Management MicroMasters Capstone Exam
3. Agile Process, Project, and Program Controls

The majority of the topics in the beginner, intermediate and expert level courses are the same. It’s just that the depth of the topic increases with the increase in experience level.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. Which are the top three highest-paying project manager jobs?
A1. The following are the highest-paying project manager positions:

1. Project manager for marketing
2. Project management consultant
3. Construction project manager

Q2. What factors influence a project manager’s salary?
A2. Education, experience, region, and company type are all factors that can affect a project manager’s salary.

Q3. What is the bare minimum of project management experience?
A3. A project manager must have at least six years of experience.

Q4. What is the best degree for a project manager?
A4. A Bachelor’s degree in business or a degree in computer science is typically required for project managers.

Conclusion

Project managers communicate, organize, align teams, and document every step of the process. They make sure that starting a project makes sense. There is a well-documented business goal for completing the project. To learn more about a project manager, you can also explore these courses related to this career option.

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