Is ₹1 crore salary rich in Mumbai? IIM Ahmedabad alumnus explains why it’s big in Thane, basic in Worli

In Mumbai, a ₹1 crore annual salary may once have signaled arrival but today, it barely nudges the needle in the city’s elite circles, argues IIM Ahmedabad alumnus Anurag Singal in a sharp LinkedIn post questioning the real value of “crorepati” status.

Singal lays out the math: While ₹1 crore a year places you in the top 0.1% of earners in India—far above the ₹50 lakh income defining the top 1%—Mumbai’s sky-high cost of living quickly eats into the glamour.

In posh neighborhoods like Bandra West or Worli, rent alone can swallow ₹1.5–3 lakh per month. Taxes under the new regime chop off ₹38 lakh or more, unless you switch to the old one with deductions. 

Add in ₹5 lakh for international school fees, ₹10,000 dinners, and ₹5 lakh family vacations, and what’s left? Maybe ₹10–20 lakh in annual savings.

“It’s solid, but not ‘buy a yacht’ money,” Singal notes. In a city where the median household earns ₹6–8 lakh a year, it’s still 12–15 times the norm—but context is everything. In Borivali or Thane, a crore salary makes you a standout. In South Mumbai boardrooms packed with finance and tech C-suites pulling ₹1–5 crore or more, it’s just par for the course.

With over 20,000 ultra-high-net-worth individuals living in the city, according to Knight Frank, income alone no longer dazzles. “Wealth, not income, is the real flex,” Singal writes.

His bottom line: ₹1 crore is a milestone worth respect—but in Mumbai’s upper crust, it’s more a sign of progress than prosperity. “Nice,” he says, “but keep grinding.”