Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Oct 27: India has achieved one of the lowest gender pay gaps globally, according to a new report released on Monday by global payroll and compliance platform Deel. The study found that median salaries for men and women in India are now nearly equal, ranging between $13,000 and $23,000, reflecting what it described as “growing pay equity and the adoption of data-driven compensation models.”
The findings are based on Deel’s analysis of internal platform data covering over one million contracts and 35,000 customers across 150 countries, offering a comprehensive view of global compensation trends.
While the report celebrated India’s progress toward gender pay parity, it also revealed a 40 per cent year-on-year decline in median compensation for engineering and data professionals, dropping from $36,000 in 2024 to $22,000 in 2025. Deel attributed this fall to changing market dynamics and the rebalancing of post-pandemic salary structures.
The report noted that India’s workforce continues to maintain a hybrid model, with 60–70 per cent full-time employees and 30–40 per cent contract workers, highlighting a sustained reliance on flexible employment structures.
“It’s encouraging to see India emerge as one of the few countries where the gender pay gap has narrowed significantly,” said Mark Samlal, General Manager, APAC at Deel. “This progress reflects a broader shift toward fairness, transparency, and data-driven compensation models that reward merit over bias.”
Globally, the US, UK, and Canada continue to offer the highest median compensation across industries. Roles in AI, cybersecurity, and digital marketing command an additional 20–25 per cent pay premium due to limited skilled talent and the absence of standardized pay benchmarks.
The report also observed a continued rise in equity-based compensation in emerging markets like India and Brazil, where tech professionals have seen steady growth in equity grants between 2021 and 2025. The US leads in the size of equity packages, followed by Canada and France.
Despite India’s progress, Deel’s analysis showed that globally, gender pay disparities remain more pronounced in tech and product roles than in sales positions, with the widest gaps found in Canada, France, and the United States.