Salary Slip Format in India
Every component an Indian payslip should carry, and why each one is there.
A salary slip is a small document that gets asked for at important moments — a home loan, a visa application, a tax filing, a new job's salary verification. It is also the clearest evidence of whether an employer's payroll is being run properly.
This guide covers what belongs on an Indian payslip, why each line is there, and a complete format you can work from.
The header: identifying the payment
Before any figures, a payslip needs to establish who is paying whom, for what period:
- Employer name and registered address
- Employee name, employee code, designation and department
- UAN (Universal Account Number) where PF applies, and ESI number where ESI applies
- PAN, and bank account number in masked form
- Wage period — the month and year
- Days in the period, days paid, and loss-of-pay days
Earnings
| Component | What it is |
|---|---|
| Basic | The foundation of the structure. PF, gratuity and most statutory calculations key off it, which is why its proportion of CTC is a deliberate decision, not an arbitrary one. |
| Dearness Allowance | Cost-of-living component. Common in public sector and unionised settings; often folded into basic elsewhere. Counts alongside basic for PF and gratuity. |
| House Rent Allowance | Typically 40 to 50% of basic. Partially exempt from tax against rent actually paid. |
| Conveyance / Transport | Travel allowance. Now generally subsumed into the standard deduction for tax purposes. |
| Special Allowance | The balancing figure that makes the structure add to gross. Fully taxable. |
| Overtime | Where applicable, at statutory rates. See the overtime guide. |
| Bonus / Incentive | Statutory bonus or performance pay for the period. |
Deductions
| Deduction | Rate |
|---|---|
| Provident Fund (employee) | 12% of basic + DA |
| ESI (employee) | 0.75% of gross |
| Professional Tax | State slab |
| TDS | Per tax computation |
| Salary advance / loan | Per agreement |
| Labour Welfare Fund | State-specific, where applicable |
ESI applies where gross wages are within the prescribed wage ceiling. Professional tax varies by state and is nil in several — the state-wise professional tax guide has the slabs.
Employer contributions
Employer PF and ESI contributions are not deducted from the employee, so they do not belong in the deductions column. Many employers show them separately anyway, because doing so makes the gap between CTC and take-home visible — which is the single most common source of confusion for new joiners. See CTC vs gross vs net.
A complete format
| Earnings | Amount | Deductions | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 20,000 | Provident Fund | 2,400 |
| House Rent Allowance | 10,000 | Professional Tax | 200 |
| Conveyance Allowance | 1,600 | TDS | 1,500 |
| Special Allowance | 15,038 | — | — |
| Gross Earnings | 46,638 | Total Deductions | 4,100 |
| Net Pay | 42,538 | ||
Below the table, a payslip should carry the net pay in words, the payment date and mode, and the employer contributions if you choose to show them. A note that the document is computer generated and needs no signature is standard for digital payslips.
Paper, PDF or WhatsApp
A digital payslip is perfectly acceptable provided it carries the required particulars and the employee can retain it. In practice, delivery method decides whether it is actually read. Email works for desk-based staff; for factory, retail and field teams, WhatsApp delivery is the only channel with reliable open rates.
WorkoTime generates payslips from the attendance and payroll data already in the system and delivers them over WhatsApp, so there is no export step and no separate distribution list to maintain. To see how the components come together for a given salary, use the free payroll calculator.