Indian IT Internship Stipends 2026: What's Real Pay vs Token

India's IT internship market in 2026 ranges from unpaid certificates to ₹80k/month at FAANG offices. Knowing which tier you should aim for — and what to expect in each — is the difference between a year-defining experience and a wasted summer.

The five tiers (and what they actually mean)

Tier 0 — Up to ₹10k/month: unpaid or token

Mostly "virtual internships" that hand out a certificate in exchange for some unpaid project work. Useful only if you have zero experience and need a line on your CV. If the company asks for a registration fee, walk away — that's the resume-scam tier, not a real internship.

Tier 1 — ₹10–20k/month: typical paid college intern

The bulk of the market: mid-sized Indian tech companies, services firms, and early-stage startups. Real codebase, real mentor, real work. Comparing offers? Look at code-review culture and PPO rate (the percentage of interns who get converted) — they matter more than ₹2k of stipend difference.

Tier 2 — ₹20–30k/month: selective programs

Series B+ startups, well-funded fintechs, and the better product companies. Expect a real interview loop (one or two coding rounds plus a system-design conversation). PPO rates here tend to be 50– 70% if you ship.

Tier 3 — ₹30–50k/month: top startups

Razorpay, Zerodha, Postman, Atlan, Cred, Groww, and similar product-led companies. Interview difficulty matches a junior FTE role. Most of these come with structured pods, dedicated mentors, and explicit PPO offers if you hit targets.

Tier 4 — ₹50k+/month: FAANG and PPO-track

Google STEP, Microsoft, Amazon, Adobe, and a few global product offices in Bangalore/Hyderabad. ₹60–80k/month is common; some pay ₹1L+ for senior-undergrad PPO candidates. Acceptance rates are typically < 2% — but the recruiters DO scout from Tier 2 and 3 backgrounds, so don't skip the lower tiers thinking you'll jump straight here.

Three things to evaluate beyond the stipend

• PPO offer rate. Ask: "What percentage of your last batch got pre-placement offers?" If they can't answer, that's the answer.
• Tech stack relevance. A ₹40k stipend writing legacy COBOL teaches you nothing for your next role. A ₹15k stipend on a modern React + Postgres + AWS stack does.
• Mentor access. 1:1 weekly with a senior engineer beats every other perk. Ask in your final round whether mentorship is structured or ad-hoc.

What to put on your CV after the internship

Not "Worked on web development at Company X." Instead:

"Migrated the candidate-onboarding flow from a 5-step form to a single-page wizard. Cut drop-off from 38% to 12% across 50k monthly sessions. Tech: React, Next.js App Router, PostgreSQL."

Two sentences, three numbers, the stack. That's the line that gets you your first FTE interview.