A 10% raise on ₹12,00,000 takes your gross to ₹13,20,000. Under the New Regime you keep ₹73,200 of that net; under the Old Regime with ₹1,50,000 in deductions, you keep ₹82,560. Enter your own numbers to see which regime keeps you more of your next raise.
Rates verified How we check rates
New Regime keeps
61%
of a raise, 0 deductions
Old Regime keeps
69%
with ₹1,50,000 deductions
87A relief
Automatic
no cliff near Rs 12L/5L
Basis
Gross salary
not CTC, see FAQ
Only affects the Old Regime column. Leave at 0 if you don't claim any.
Old Regime keeps you more of this raise
+₹82,560/year net
That's ₹9,360 more than the New Regime keeps on the same raise.
New Regime
+₹73,200
net gain/year, 61% of the gross raise
Old Regime
Keeps more+₹82,560
net gain/year, 69% of the gross raise
A 10.0% raise on ₹12,00,000 takes your gross to ₹13,20,000. Under the New Regime you keep 61% of that raise; under the Old Regime with ₹1,50,000 in deductions, you keep 69%.
A raise doesn't get taxed in isolation, it gets taxed as the top slice of your total income, at whatever marginal rate that slice falls into. This calculator computes your net pay before and after the raise, under both regimes, and the difference between those two net figures is exactly what the raise is worth to you after tax, not the gross percentage your offer letter quotes.
The New Regime and Old Regime tax that top slice differently. New Regime has wider slabs and a bigger Section 87A rebate cutoff (Rs 12 lakh taxable income), but doesn't allow Chapter VI-A deductions at all. Old Regime has narrower slabs and a lower rebate cutoff (Rs 5 lakh), but lets you reduce taxable income first via Section 80C, 80D, HRA exemption, and others, before any slab rate applies. Whichever regime keeps more of your raise depends on where your income sits and how large those deductions genuinely are.
Near the Rs 12 lakh and Rs 5 lakh rebate thresholds specifically, Section 87A's marginal relief prevents a raise from ever costing you money overall, even though it's a common fear. The relief smooths the tax owed on income just above the threshold so it never exceeds the amount by which you've crossed it, this calculator's engine applies that automatically for both regimes.
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It depends heavily on your regime. In this calculator's default example, a 10% raise on ₹12,00,000 takes gross pay to ₹13,20,000, a ₹1,20,000 gross increase. Under the New Regime, you keep ₹73,200 of that net; under the Old Regime with ₹1,50,000 in Section 80C/HRA deductions, you keep ₹82,560. The gap exists because the two regimes tax the same rupee of raise very differently once your existing deductions are accounted for.
Because which regime keeps more of your raise isn't fixed, it depends on how large your Old Regime deductions are. With Rs 0 deductions the New Regime wins at every income level (a well-documented result of the FY 2025-26 New Regime overhaul), but real taxpayers with genuine 80C, 80D, and HRA claims can see the gap narrow or occasionally reverse. Showing both side by side, for your specific raise, is more useful than assuming one regime and hoping it's the right call.
No, and this is a common worry worth addressing directly. Section 87A's marginal relief provision means tax payable near that threshold is capped at the amount your income exceeds it by, whichever is lower than the slab-computed tax. In practice this means a raise that pushes you just over the threshold can never leave you with less net pay than before the raise, the tax on the excess is smoothed, not a sudden cliff. This calculator's engine applies that relief automatically, so the numbers you see already account for it.
Enter your realistic annual total across Section 80C (EPF, PPF, ELSS, life insurance premiums, capped at Rs 1.5 lakh), Section 80D (health insurance premiums), and your HRA exemption if you claim one (use the HRA Calculator on this site to work that figure out precisely). If you genuinely don't know or haven't decided, leave it at 0, that shows the honest worst case for the Old Regime, and matches how India's own income tax calculators default when deductions aren't specified.
No, and mixing the two up is a common mistake at appraisal time. This calculator works on gross annual taxable salary, the same basis as the India Salary Calculator, not your full CTC (Cost to Company), which also includes employer EPF contributions, gratuity accrual, and other non-cash components that never show up as taxable salary. If your hike letter quotes a new CTC figure rather than a salary figure, use the CTC to In-Hand Salary Calculator first to find your actual gross salary, then enter that here.
Generally yes, because India's slabs are progressive: a raise that pushes more of your income into a higher bracket means a larger share of the raise itself, not your whole salary, gets taxed at that higher marginal rate. A raise entirely within your current bracket is taxed at a flat marginal rate; a large enough raise that crosses one or more bracket boundaries has its top slice taxed progressively higher. The retention percentage shown for your specific numbers reflects exactly this.
Yes. It uses the same verified FY 2026-27 New and Old Regime slabs, standard deductions, and Section 87A rebate and marginal relief rules as the India Salary Calculator and India CTC Calculator elsewhere on this site (Union Budget 2026 guidance, unchanged from the Budget 2025 New Regime overhaul). Surcharge marginal relief at the Rs 50L/1Cr/2Cr/5Cr boundaries is not modeled, a stated simplification carried over from the underlying tax engine.
Related reading & tools
Go deeper on the India tax engine this calculator shares, and on CTC vs in-hand pay.
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