Short answer: for expected CTC, give an annual figure in rupees, in the unit the form asks for (lakhs per annum or the full number), and say whether it is fixed pay or total CTC. For notice period, give your official notice in days, and add your last working day if you are already serving it.
These two questions are much more common on Indian application forms than elsewhere. In our snapshot of 295 application forms for jobs located in India, 31.9% of employers asked for your notice period, against 6.3% for jobs outside India. 17.6% asked for your current pay, against 2.6% elsewhere. Expected pay was asked at about the same rate everywhere.
How often Indian forms ask
On 12 October 2026 we downloaded application forms from Greenhouse's public job-board API. 295 of them were for jobs located in India, posted by 91 employers. We compared them with the forms for jobs elsewhere from the same snapshot (780 employers).
| Question | Jobs in India (91 employers) | Jobs outside India (780 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Notice period | 31.9% | 6.3% |
| Current CTC or current salary | 17.6% | 2.6% |
| Expected CTC or salary expectation | 34.1% | 35.1% |
So the expected-pay question is universal, but notice period and current pay are the questions that mark an Indian application. A notice-period question is five times as common on an India form, and a current-pay question nearly seven times. 12 of the 91 employers asked for both current and expected pay.
When the notice-period question is there, you cannot skip it: 88 of the 90 notice-period questions we found were mandatory.
How the questions are worded
The labels are short and rarely tell you what unit they want. The most common wordings on India forms, by number of forms:
| Question | Most common wordings |
|---|---|
| Notice period | “Notice period” (21), “What is your notice period?” (15), “What is your notice period or earliest date of availability?” (10) |
| Current pay | “Current annual salary” (13), “Current salary” (9), “What is your current CTC?” (5), “Current fixed remuneration” (3) |
| Expected pay | “Expected salary” (10), “What are your compensation expectations?” (9), “What is your expected CTC?” (5), “ECTC?” (4) |
Of the 142 pay questions on these forms, only 18% said “annual”, 9% asked for fixed and variable pay separately, 6% named a currency and 4% said lakhs or LPA. Most leave the unit to you, which is why it is worth writing it into your answer.
Notice-period questions are 72% free-text boxes and 28% drop-downs. The drop-downs show how employers think about it. The options we saw most were “Immediate”, “30 days”, “60 days” and “90 days”, and some forms split each into “Officially 30 days”, “Negotiable” and “Non-negotiable”, or offer “Higher than 45 days but buyout available”.
How to answer expected CTC
- Know your current CTC split before you open the form. Fixed pay, variable or bonus, and any stock. Forms that ask for “current and expected CTC” in one box expect the two to be comparable, so describe both the same way.
- Answer in the unit the label asks for. “(in LPA)” means a figure such as 24. A box that only accepts numbers wants the full annual amount, such as 2400000. With no unit stated, write it out: “₹24 LPA”.
- Say whether it is fixed or total. “24 LPA” can be read as fixed pay or as total CTC including variable pay, and the difference is often several lakhs. One word removes the doubt.
- Give one figure or a narrow range you would actually accept. The number goes into the employer's system and comes back at the offer stage, so a figure you would not take is a problem later.
- If a range is published on the posting, answer within or near it. Our salary-expectations study found that only about half of employers who ask for your number publish their own.
| The field says | Example answer |
|---|---|
| “Expected CTC (in LPA)” | 24 |
| “Expected CTC”, numbers only | 2400000 |
| “What is your expected CTC?”, free text | “₹24 LPA fixed. Open to discussing the variable component.” |
| “What is your current and expected CTC?” | “Current ₹18 LPA (₹16 LPA fixed + ₹2 LPA variable). Expected ₹24 LPA fixed.” |
| “Expected salary” in another currency, for a remote role | The annual amount in the currency the label names, with the currency written out |
Current CTC. Answer it accurately, with the same split. Employers can ask for payslips or an offer letter at the offer stage, and an inflated current CTC that does not match them can cost you the offer.
How to answer notice period
- Give your official notice in days. “60 days” is clearer than “2 months”, and it matches drop-downs that offer 30, 60 and 90 days.
- If you are serving notice, say so and give your last working day. Some forms ask directly: “if you are serving notice, please mention official last working day”. A date tells the recruiter more than a count of days.
- If it is negotiable or there is a buyout, say so where there is room. Some forms offer this as an option. In a text box, add it after the official figure: “60 days, negotiable to 30 with buyout.”
- Do not shorten it to get the call. The number comes up again when an offer is discussed, and changing it then wastes your time and the recruiter's.
- “Immediate” means you can join now. Use it only if you are not employed or your last working day has passed. Some drop-downs say exactly that: “Immediate (if the last working day is completed)”.
On Naukri
Naukri asks the same things, as screening questions after you click Apply and as fields on your profile. Our data covers employer forms on Greenhouse, not Naukri itself, but the advice is the same: keep the notice period and CTC on your profile identical to what you type into screening questions. See what recruiters see when you apply on Naukri.
How we measured this
We used the 12 October 2026 snapshot behind our study of 9,401 application forms, drawn from Greenhouse's public Job Board API with up to 15 open jobs per employer. A form counts as an India job when its location names India or a major Indian city (Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Gurugram, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Noida and others): 295 forms from 91 employers. An employer counts as asking a question if at least one of its forms in that group asks it. That differs from the per-form average used in our other posts, so the expected-pay figure here (35.1% outside India) is not directly comparable with the 31.7% in the salary study. A notice-period question is one whose label contains “notice period” or “serving notice”. Current pay matches labels such as “current CTC”, “current salary” or “current compensation”, and expected pay matches “expected CTC”, “salary expectation”, “desired salary” and similar. The India employers are mostly technology companies and their Indian offices, not the full Indian job market, and the sample includes no Naukri, Workday or iCIMS forms. The example answers are illustrations, not advice on what to ask for. The figures are in india_stats.json (CC BY 4.0).
Frequently asked questions
What should I write for expected CTC on a job application?
An annual figure in rupees, in the unit the form asks for: a number like 24 if it says LPA, the full amount like 2400000 if it only accepts numbers. Say whether it is fixed pay or total CTC, and give a figure you would actually accept.
Should expected CTC be in LPA or the full amount?
Use the unit in the label. Only 4% of pay questions on the India forms we analyzed mentioned lakhs or LPA, so when no unit is given, write it out, for example ₹24 LPA fixed.
How do I answer notice period if I am already serving notice?
Say you are serving notice and give your official last working day. Some forms ask for exactly that, and a date tells the recruiter more than a number of days.
Is it OK to write a shorter notice period than my real one?
No. The figure comes up again at the offer stage, and correcting it then usually loses the role. Give the official notice and mention a buyout or negotiable notice if you have one.
How common are notice period questions on Indian job applications?
In our snapshot, 31.9% of employers hiring in India asked for notice period on the application form, against 6.3% for jobs outside India, and 98% of those questions were mandatory.
Answer notice period and CTC once.
ApplyCandid saves your notice period, current and expected CTC and fills them on company career-site forms. Unsaved fields stay blank. On Naukri and LinkedIn it scores jobs and opens the matches for you.