PayPulse Help Documentation

A complete guide to the CTC to in-hand salary calculator, from your first CTC to your last working day.

Last Updated: November 9, 2026

1. Getting Started

The toolbar at the top shows your monthly pay in hand once you have typed a CTC, and whether anything is kept in this browser; on the right are Hide amounts and Help. The six tabs open the sections: Your pay, Am I paid fairly?, Compare offers, Growth, Leaving a job and Freelance rate. Type your CTC once under Your pay; every other section starts from it.

2. Typing Amounts

Type amounts as you would say them: 1800000, 18,00,000, 18L, 18 lakh, 18 LPA, 1.2cr or 12k. Sums work too, such as 450+300 or 150 x 22, and a rupee sign or Rs in front is ignored. The line under a box repeats what was read, a year and a month; a box that could not be read turns red and says how to type it. Percentages such as 10% work in the variable pay boxes.

3. Your Pay

Type your CTC a year, the variable pay or bonus inside the CTC (an amount or a percentage) and the city you work in, and choose the tax regime: New, Old or Whichever is lower. The large figure is the pay that reaches your bank each month, with how much of every 100 rupees of CTC that is. Below it are the income tax a year, your PF, pay before deductions and the other regime's monthly pay; a bar of where your CTC goes (in your hand, taxes, retirement savings, variable pay, insurance); an estimated payslip for this month; and the two regimes side by side.

On phones a one-line summary of the monthly pay and the year's tax stays in view while you type.

4. How the CTC Is Split

• Basic pay, as a share of monthly pay: 50% unless you change it.
• HRA, as a share of basic: empty means 50% in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad and 40% elsewhere.
• Provident fund: 12% of wages, capped at 3,000 a month (12% of the 25,000 wage ceiling), or none. Under the Labour Codes, wages are at least half of your pay.
• Gratuity is inside the CTC: 4.81% of wages set aside each month.
• Employer NPS, as a share of basic.
• Health insurance premium inside the CTC and tax-free bills paid back (phone and internet used for work).
• Professional tax: empty uses your state's slabs; type an amount to use your own (at most 2,500 a year).

5. Deductions for the Old Regime

Your age (under 60, 60 to 79, 80 or more), the rent you pay each month (for the HRA exemption), 80C savings besides your PF, health insurance for you and your family and for your parents (with a tick if they are 60 or older), home loan interest, your own NPS contribution and other deductions. Each box says its limit. They change only the old regime's tax.

6. The Two Regimes

The table shows, for the whole tax year, the salary counted for tax, the standard deduction and every other deduction line, the taxable income, the tax on the slabs, rebate and relief, surcharge, the 4% cess, the income tax a year and the pay in hand each month. The lower tax is marked. The note underneath says how much the old regime's deductions must add up to before it wins, and how much you have entered.

7. Ways to Keep More

Ideas worked out for your own pay, each with its value: switching regime, employer NPS up to the tax-free share (14% of basic in the new regime, 10% in the old), getting just under the 12 lakh line, phone and internet bills paid back, the rest of your 80C limit, your own NPS, health insurance, the PF cap and a basic pay below half of your pay.

8. The CTC for an Amount in Hand

Under How much CTC for a set amount in hand?, type the monthly amount you want. PayPulse finds the smallest CTC that gives it with the same split, city, PF and regime, and how far it is from your CTC now.

9. Am I Paid Fairly?

Add salaries you know: a name that says where each came from, such as "Offer from Acme" or "Job site, 5 years, Pune", and the CTC; press Add or Enter. The section shows how many are above and below your CTC, the middle of your list, the lowest and highest, and each salary as a bar with what it puts in your hand each month with your settings. The cross beside a salary removes it, with Undo. No salary figures come with PayPulse.

10. Compare Offers

Tick Include my current job to compare against it (its CTC, variable pay, city and PF come from Your pay). Each offer has its CTC, variable pay and the share you expect, a joining bonus, city, PF, the living costs there compared with now, stock and how it vests, health cover, days from home, work hours, travel time and cost, notice period, and ratings for learning and job security. Choose how many years to compare over and the yearly raise. Add an offer adds up to three; the bin removes one, with Undo. On phones the offers show one at a time with a switch above them.

The result names the offer that puts the most in your hand and the one worth most over the years, a table side by side, a bar of what each is worth after tax, the CTC each would need to match the best in hand, and the score on what matters to you, set with the sliders.

11. Growth

Choose how many years ahead and how fast prices rise. Each path has a yearly raise, and optionally a promotion every few years with its rise, or a switch every few years with its rise; add up to three. The chart shows each path in future rupees or today's rupees, then when each path crosses 25 lakh, 50 lakh, 1 crore and 2 crore, the savings each could build from a share of pay in hand at a yearly return, and a table year by year.

12. Leaving a Job

Type the day you resign, the notice period, your monthly pay and basic pay (both come from Your pay if left empty), the day you joined, whether you are on a fixed-term contract, your leave balance and whether to get it paid out or shorten the notice, and what the notice buyout is charged on. For the new job, type the joining date, its monthly pay and the share of the buyout it pays. Under Money with a date, type a bonus or stock that vests and their dates.

The result shows your last day, a timeline, serving the notice against buying it out, which bonus, stock and gratuity each keeps with the first safe day to resign, the full and final settlement (last month's pay, leave paid out, gratuity, bonus, less buyout and tax) and a checklist before you go.

13. Freelance Rate

Aim for what your job pays (from Your pay) or your own take-home a year. Add your costs (laptop, software, internet, co-working, health insurance, retirement saving) and a cushion for slow months; your time (days a week, hours a day, holidays, festivals, sick days, and the share of hours you can bill); and your clients' currency with its rate, platform and transfer fees, and the tax method. The result is the hourly rate with a rate card (your minimum, an asking rate and a premium), where your year's hours go, the steps from what clients pay to what you keep, take-home at other rates and hours, and notes on tax, GST and the exchange rate.

14. Your Data, Backups and Printing

• Hide amounts blurs every amount; the Help window can blur them each time PayPulse opens.
• Save a backup and Restore a backup, in the Help window, move your numbers to a file and back (files over 10 MB are refused).
• Delete everything, in the Help window, removes every number and setting PayPulse keeps in this browser.
• Print, under Your pay, or the browser's Print command, prints the estimated payslip, where the CTC goes and both regimes on one page.

15. Keyboard Shortcuts

• 1 to 6 open the six sections; H hides or shows amounts (outside a text box)
• On the tabs, the arrow keys, Home and End move between sections
• On a chart, the left and right arrow keys step through it; Esc closes a window

16. How It Was Checked

The maths was compared with a reference written separately from the published rules: 4,000 incomes taxed in both regimes and three age groups, professional tax at 1,197 pay levels in every city, 1,500 CTCs split and taxed in both regimes, the CTC for a monthly amount and the old regime's break-even, 1,200 resignations with their service, gratuity, buyout and settlement, 408 freelance rates, 200 offers over the years, 100 growth paths with their savings, and odd values that must not break anything. The income tax reference is the one Payslip Studio, elsewhere on this site, was checked against.

17. Troubleshooting

• A box turned red. The amount could not be read; type it like 18L, 1.5 lakh or 150000.
• "The variable pay and insurance add up to more than the CTC." Variable pay is part of the CTC, not on top of it; check the amount.
• My in-hand pay differs from my payslip. Employers spread tax unevenly over the year, prorate pay and round in their own ways; PayPulse spreads the year's tax evenly. Check the split under How the CTC is split against your offer letter.
• My numbers are gone. They are kept per browser and device; a private window or cleared browser data starts empty. Restore your latest backup.
• The amounts are blurred. Hide amounts is on; press it or H.

18. Support

For questions the FAQ does not answer, use the contact form. Please describe what you did without sending your salary or other figures.