The IT capital of India, Bengaluru, continues to be the highest paying city for talent in the country, with the highest average annual cost to company for talent across junior, mid and senior levels, finds Randstad Insights Salary Trends Report 2019. Bengaluru topped the list in the year 2017 and 2018 Salary Trends report as well.

Bengaluru has the highest average annual cost to company (CTC) for talent across levels: for junior staff, CTC is Rs 5.27 lakh, for mid level it is Rs 16.45 lakh and for senior managers it is Rs 35.45 lakh.

Followed by Bengaluru, Hyderabad (at Rs 5 lakh) and Mumbai (at Rs 4.59 lakh) are top paying cities for junior level roles, finds the survey.

For mid-level roles, second and third slot is taken by Mumbai (at Rs 15.07 lakh) and the National Capital Region and for senior roles it is Mumbai (Rs 33.95 lakh) and Pune (Rs 32.68 lakh) respectively.

Randstad Insights' report also reveals that professionals from the IT industry command the highest salaries. The IT sector stands first for highest average annual CTCs paid at the Junior (Rs 4.96 lakh) and Senior (Rs 35.84 lakh). The increasing demand for professionals with digital skills such as cloud, product management, analytics, AI & automation - could be the major factors for the sector's strong showing this year.

With the demand for GST compliance specialists, accountants, management consultants and lawyers on the rise, the professional services sector ranked as the second highest paying sector for junior and senior levels, while topping the salaries for mid-level (Rs 15.3 lakh) professionals.

From a functional role standpoint, professionals in the strategy and consulting domain command the highest salaries for junior (Rs 6.90 lakh) and mid-level (Rs 15.32 lakh) roles.

Digital Marketers emerge as the highest paid functional role for senior professionals with an average annual CTC of Rs 35.65 lakh.

Paul Dupuis, MD & CEO, Randstad India said, "A period of stasis is the best time to push pause, reset the priorities and build towards future proofing of the organization. Talent with the 'right-fit' skills commands a significant premium over their peers and companies are not constrained by bell curves and averages when it comes to the salary structure for professionals with in-demand skills; evidenced by the findings of this report".

Randstad Insights Salary Trends Report 2019 analyzed 1,00,000 jobs across 15 industry verticals and functions, spread across eight major cities.