IT CultureSeries: Office Bakwas
Indian IT is not one industry. It is seven industries wearing the same polo neck and ID card. From the FAANG office with a barista and a ping-pong table to the service company in Noida where the Wi-Fi password is "password123" and has been since 2018. A field guide.
By Bench Babu | May 25, 2026 | Office Culture Series, Part 8
The Complete Indian IT Hierarchy — 2026 Edition
| Level | Companies | Salary | Culture | AI Fear Level | Snacks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FAANG / GCC | Google, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs GCC, JP Morgan GCC, Apple | ₹30–80L+. With stock. The stock is real. | Flat hierarchy. First-name basis with everyone including the VP who is 31 years old and intimidatingly calm. | Low. They ARE building the AI. They are writing the thing that fears others. | Free barista. Free lunch. Fruit bowl replenished twice daily. A popcorn machine nobody understood. |
| Top Indian Product | Zepto, Razorpay, CRED, Swiggy, Zomato | ₹18–50L. With ESOPs that might be worth something if the IPO happens which it will probably happen. | High energy. Everyone is building something. Everyone also works 60 hours a week and calls it "ownership." | Medium. They use AI. They worry about which parts of their job AI does better than them. They don't say this in meetings. | Good snacks. Cold brew on tap at Swiggy for obvious reasons. Midnight snack delivery at Zomato, also for obvious reasons. |
| Big IT Services | TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL, Tech Mahindra, Cognizant | ₹3.5–18L depending on year of joining, band, and whether the appraisal cycle was kind. | Process-heavy. JIRA. Confluence. Mandatory trainings. Town halls. The Rajiv Sir problem at scale. | Very high. Their entire business model is human delivery. AI is replacing the delivery. The model is changing. | Subsidised canteen. Vada for ₹8. The vada is the single most democratic institution in Indian IT. |
| Mid-Tier IT / Body-Shopping | Mphasis, Hexaware, KPIT, Mastech, Kellton | ₹4–15L. Hike is 6–8%. Has been 6–8% since 2016. | Client-dependent. Some clients are good. Some clients are in New Jersey and call at 10 PM IST and consider this reasonable. | High. But quieter about it. These companies will transform or disappear. Both are happening. | Vending machine with chips that cost ₹40 for a packet worth ₹22. The machine frequently says "Sold Out" for only the good items. |
| The Startup (Funded) | Series B/C startup you haven't heard of with a name that ends in "ly" or "ify" or is a made-up word | ₹12–25L. Plus ESOPs. The ESOPs vest in four years. The company may not exist in four years. Both facts are presented simultaneously. | "We're a family." This means: no overtime pay, no clear job description, and you will sometimes do the CEO's PowerPoint because "everyone pitches in." | Extreme. The entire startup may be replaced by AI. Several of the founders have considered this. Some of them are building it themselves. | Excellent snacks during the funding round. After the funding is spent: one jar of protein powder and a shared bag of chips. |
| The Small IT Company | Infotech Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Technocraft Systems. Netwave IT Services. Exists in Noida Sector 62 or Pune's Hinjawadi Phase 3. | ₹2.5–8L. Freshers join at ₹15,000/month. The bond is 2 years. The bond is legally unenforceable. Nobody tells them this. | Owner is "Bhai" or "Sir" depending on mood. Friday is formal. Nobody knows why Friday is formal. It has always been formal. | They haven't heard of it yet officially. Unofficially, three employees are using ChatGPT to do their work and not telling anyone. | Birthday cake for everyone's birthday. This is actually lovely. This is the one thing small IT companies do better than everyone else. |
| The 3-Man Startup | "We're in stealth." Operating from founder's flat in HSR Layout or a WeWork hot desk they share with two other 3-man startups. | ₹0 to ₹6L. "We're pre-revenue but the equity is significant." The equity is significant in a cap table that contains three names. | Total chaos navigated by friendship, caffeine, and a shared conviction that the idea is good, which it is, which is the tragedy of how many good ideas don't survive their first year. | They ARE the AI. Or they're building on top of it. Or they're being replaced by someone else's AI. Sometimes all three in the same week. | Maggi at 11 PM. A shared Swiggy order where someone always gets the wrong item. This is the founder's snack. It is also his dinner. It is also his office culture. |
Every level thinks the level above has it figured out. Every level is wrong. The FAANG employee has anxiety about performance reviews that would paralyse the small IT company employee, who has anxiety about his bond period that would confuse the FAANG employee, who has never heard of a bond period because bonding people to companies is not legal in California. The startup founder works 80 hours. The TCS employee works 45 and feels guilty about it. The bench employee works zero and feels guiltier than both. Nobody is okay. Everyone has a LinkedIn about it. The vada costs ₹8. This is the one constant. This is India's true IT benchmark.
Disclaimer: Satire. Salary ranges are approximate from Glassdoor India and LinkedIn Salary 2026. Bond periods at small Indian IT companies are documented and largely unenforceable under Indian contract law. The vada price is real and the most stable data point in this entire piece. — Ed.
