Product Managers (PMs) are often tagged as mini-entrepreneurs: professionals who take complete, end-to-end accountability over their product. As the pandemic has accelerated enterprise tech adoption five-fold, there is an even greater demand for Product Manager roles at companies of all sizes and across a plethora of industries. With the width of the work they do, the business impact they drive, and the demand they are in, PMs have now become some of the highest-paid workers in Silicon Valley. So, what kind of salaries do Product Managers draw in India? Here, we break down Product Manager salaries in India by top companies as well as years of experience.
What is product management? What does a product manager do?
Essentially, product management is a function that handles the lifecycle of a product. A product manager identifies the needs of a customer as well as the organization's business goals, designs a product to meet both objectives, and brings together teams to execute the vision for such a product.
For all intents and purposes, product managers are mini-CEOs that are "the glue that binds the many functions that touch a product—engineering, design, customer success, sales, marketing, operations, finance, legal, and more. They not only own the decisions about what gets built but also influence every aspect of how it gets built and launched," according to McKinsey.
The best PMs are those who have mastered core competencies, have high emotional intelligence, and have a good company fit. Further, PM roles can become the foundation for rising up the corporate ladder - after all, CEOs of many billion-dollar companies used to be product managers:
- Sundar Pichai started his career at Google as a Product Leader, before becoming the CEO of Alphabet in 2015.
- Susan Wojcicki was a Product Manager for Google AdSense, and later became the VP of Product Management at Google. From there, she became the CEO of YouTube.
- Stewart Butterfield was a Senior Director of Product Management at Yahoo before he became the CEO of Slack, which was later acquired by Salesforce.
Others, including Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Marissa Mayer of Yahoo, were PMs before being elevated to a C-suite role at these tech giants.
What are the core competencies of a product manager?
According to a professor at the Harvard Business School, there are 8 core competencies that every PM must have. These include:
- Conducting user testing and consumer interviews
- Defining and tracking KPIs and other success metrics
- Creating a pricing and revenue model
- Conducting in-depth market assessment
- Perfecting the art of resource allocation
- Running design sprints
- Feature prioritization and road map planning
- Translating business-to-technical requirements, and vice versa
According to professor Julia Austin,
"These core competencies are the baseline for any PM, and the best PMs hone these skills over years of defining, shipping, and iterating on products."
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How much do product managers earn in India?
Product Managers are some of the most well-paid professionals in the world. This makes sense, since a fully optimized PM can boost company profits by nearly 35%, and can be instrumental in achieving an organization's objectives. So, how much do Product Managers earn in India? As per LinkedIn data, the average base salary of a Product Manager in India is INR 15.00 lakhs. Let's take a look at Product Manager salaries in India, split by top companies, and years of experience.
Some of the best paymasters for PM roles are some of the world's biggest tech companies, including the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, PayTM, Google, and others. However, there is industry diversity when it comes to PM roles, with fitness companies like Cure.fit (now Cult.fit), FinTech companies like PayTM, and retail companies like Walmart and Myntra all offering Product Management roles with handsome salaries.
Other industries where Product Management roles pay well include the BFSI industry, real estate, and transportation and logistics, amongst others.
At an entry-level, Product Managers are paid a median base salary of INR 12.00 lakhs, which goes up to INR 13.60 lakhs including variable components. The highest recorded salary for PMs with less than 1 year of experience is INR 30.00 lakhs, including bonuses.
As per LinkedIn data, PMs with 1-5 years of experience can expect to earn a median salary of INR 14.10 lakhs - an increase of 18% from the previous experience bracket, though, at this stage, good PMs are probably looking at getting promoted to the position of Senior Product Manager.
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