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Internship Stipend Comparator
Compare internship offers side by side — net pay, market rate, and opportunity cost. Accurate, instant and free — for India · US.
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Best offer: Offer B — ₹35,000/month net (at market rate). Term gross: ₹1,05,000 over 3 months.
Offer A | Offer B★ | |
|---|---|---|
| Gross/month | ₹20,000 | ₹35,000 |
| Effective hourly | ₹115 | ₹202 |
| Net/month | ₹20,000 | ₹35,000 |
| Market verdict | At market | At market |
| Opportunity cost | — | — |
★ Best offer by net/month. Opportunity cost = shortfall vs baseline over the internship term. Verdict bands: p25–p75 from NACE 2025 (US) / Internshala 2024 (India).
How internship stipends are normalized and compared
Comparing internship offers is tricky because they come in different formats (monthly, hourly, weekly, lump-sum), cover different durations, and carry very different tax treatment in India vs the US. The comparator applies four steps — normalize, net-after-tax, benchmark, opportunity cost — so every offer lands on the same scale.
Normalize to monthly + effective hourly
All stipend formats converted to one scale
e.g. $20/hr × 40 h/wk × 52 ÷ 12 = $3,466.67/mo; eff. hourly = $20.00
Normalizing to monthly lets you compare a ₹20,000/month India offer with a $20/hr US offer on equal terms. The effective hourly back-converts any monthly figure to a per-hour rate so you can benchmark against NACE or Internshala data.
Net-after-tax on the term total
Tax on the intern's actual income for the year
§87A rebate: tax = ₹0 when taxable ≤ ₹12,00,000; §10(16) scholarship → fully exempt
Fed. income tax = $0 below $16,100 std deduction; FICA student exception waives FICA
An internship is typically the intern’s only income for the year, so tax applies to the term gross (gross monthly × duration), not an annualized projection. This almost always means very low or zero income tax.
Benchmark verdict: below / at / above
p25–p75 band for role × city
Otherwise: “at market” (within the p25–p75 interquartile band)
Bands come from sourced 2026 data: NACE 2025 Internship Survey (US national average $23.04/hr) and Internshala/PayScale benchmarks for India (role × city, with national fallback). Bands are indicative, not statutory.
Opportunity cost of a low or unpaid offer
What you give up vs a minimum-wage baseline
Baseline: min-wage monthly (US $7.25/hr or custom); floored at ₹0 / $0
For an unpaid, for-profit US internship at 30 h/wk over 3 months: baseline = $7.25 × 30 × 52 ÷ 12 = $942.50/month × 3 months → opportunity cost = $2,827.50. The tool also flags potential FLSA non-compliance (it does NOT adjudicate legality).
₹20,000/month India offer and $20/hr US offer — step by step
Stipend ₹20,000/month × 6 months = term gross ₹1,20,000. New regime, standard deduction ₹75,000. §87A rebate ceiling ₹12,75,000 gross (₹12,00,000 taxable). Taxable income after standard deduction: ₹1,20,000 − ₹75,000 = ₹45,000 — well below the §87A ceiling.
- 1Normalize: ₹20,000/month × 6 months = term gross ₹1,20,000.
- 2Standard deduction (new regime): ₹1,20,000 − ₹75,000 = taxable ₹45,000.
- 3§87A rebate: Taxable ₹45,000 ≤ ₹12,00,000 ceiling → rebate applies → income tax = ₹0.
- 4Net: ₹1,20,000 − ₹0 = ₹1,20,000 term = ₹20,000/month.
- 5Benchmark (Bangalore SDE): ₹20,000/month is within the Bangalore SDE p25–p75 band → at market.
Term gross = $20/hr × 40 h/wk × 3 months = $10,400. This is the intern’s total income for the year. FICA applies (not at a university employer); federal income tax = $0 (below the $16,100 standard deduction).
- 1Gross/month: $20/hr × 40 h/wk × 52 ÷ 12 = $3,466.67/month; term gross = $3,466.67 × 3 = $10,400.
- 2FICA (employee share, 7.65%): $10,400 × 7.65% = SS 6.2% ($644.80) + Medicare 1.45% ($150.80) = $795.60.
- 3Federal income tax: $10,400 < $16,100 standard deduction for Single filer → $0 federal tax.
- 4Net (term): $10,400 − $795.60 − $0 = $9,604.41 = $3,201.47/month.
- 5Effective hourly: $3,466.67 × 12 ÷ (40 × 52) = $20.00/hr.
- 6Market verdict: $20/hr < NACE 2025 national average $23.04/hr → below market.
Frequently asked questions
It depends on the nature of the payment. If the stipend is paid to compensate for work performed (i.e. the intern is functionally an employee), it is taxable as salary under the head "Salaries". If it is a genuine scholarship or fellowship paid to support education — meeting the requirements of Section 10(16) of the Income Tax Act — it is fully exempt. Most corporate internship stipends are treated as taxable salary. Under the new regime for 2025-26, the standard deduction is ₹75,000. A ₹20,000/month stipend over 6 months totals ₹1,20,000 for the term — well below the ₹12,75,000 §87A rebate ceiling (₹12,00,000 taxable) — so income tax is ₹0 and net equals gross.
Most interns working at companies (not their own university) must pay FICA: 6.2% Social Security + 1.45% Medicare = 7.65% employee share. The FICA student exception (IRC §3121(b)(10)) applies only when the intern is enrolled at least half-time at the employing educational institution. An intern working at a startup or corporation — even while enrolled elsewhere — owes FICA. On a $10,400 term gross ($20/hr × 40 h/wk × 3 months), FICA = $795.60 and federal income tax is $0 (below the $16,100 standard deduction), giving a net of $9,604.41.
The normalization rules are: per-hour → monthly = hourly × hours/week × 52 ÷ 12; per-week → monthly = weekly × 52 ÷ 12; per-month → monthly = as entered; lump-sum → monthly = total ÷ duration months. The effective hourly is then gross monthly × 12 ÷ (hours/week × 52). This lets you compare a ₹20,000/month offer with a $20/hr offer on equal terms.
The US Department of Labor applies a seven-factor “primary beneficiary” test (FLSA Fact Sheet #71) to decide whether an unpaid internship is legal. If the employer is the primary beneficiary — i.e., the intern performs productive work that displaces regular employees and provides immediate advantage to the employer — the intern must be paid at least the federal minimum wage ($7.25/hr). The tool flags an unpaid offer at a for-profit employer as potentially non-compliant but does NOT adjudicate legality; consult an employment attorney for specific situations.
Opportunity cost = (baseline monthly − offer monthly) × duration months, floored at zero. The baseline is either the federal/state minimum wage converted to monthly earnings or a custom figure you enter. For an unpaid, for-profit internship at 30 h/wk over 3 months, the baseline at US federal minimum wage is $7.25 × 30 × 52 ÷ 12 = $942.50/month × 3 months = $2,827.50 opportunity cost.
The tool looks up the p25–p75 band for the selected role × city (or national fallback) from sourced 2026 benchmark data (NACE for US, Internshala/PayScale for India). "Below" means the gross monthly is under the p25 percentile for that role and location. "At" means it falls within the p25–p75 band (the middle 50% of the distribution). "Above" means it exceeds p75. The bands are indicative — they reflect survey data, not statutory floors. The NACE 2025 national average for US interns across all disciplines is $23.04/hr.
Method, assumptions & references
Methodology note: normalization (per-hour/week/month/lump-sum → monthly) per the engine arithmetic. Net-after-tax uses the term total (gross monthly × duration), not an annualized projection — because an internship is typically the intern’s only income that year. India new regime: ₹75,000 standard deduction + §87A rebate → ₹0 tax at ₹20,000/month. §10(16) scholarship variant: fully exempt. US W-2: FICA 7.65% (SS 6.2% + Medicare 1.45%); federal income tax $0 below the $16,100 standard deduction. FICA student exception (IRC §3121(b)(10)) applies only when the intern is employed by their enrolled institution — not applicable for external corporate internships. Benchmark bands (p25/p50/p75) are indicative from survey data, not statutory floors or ceilings.
Important assumptions and limitations
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