Salary Guide/PE, VC and Family Offices
Section 08
PE, VC and Family Office Finance Salaries in India — 2026
Two markets that are routinely confused for one.
Finance hiring in this sector is not one market. It is two, and they are routinely confused.
There is the finance function inside the fund or the office itself: fund accounting, capital calls, LP reporting and regulatory compliance. And there is the finance capability deployed into portfolio companies: operating finance, value creation and exit readiness. The two draw on different experience, answer to different audiences and price differently. We have separated them below for that reason.
Fund side — leadership, split by fund size
| Role and fund size | 5–10 yrs | 10–15 yrs | 15+ yrs | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CFO / Controller — global fund | – | 90–150 | 150–300 | Medium |
| CFO / Controller — USD 500M to 1B | – | 70–110 | 110–200 | Medium |
| CFO / Controller — below USD 500M | 45–70 | 55–90 | 90–150 | Medium |
Fund side — core roles
| Role | 2–5 yrs | 5–10 yrs | 10–15 yrs | 15+ yrs | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fund Accounting / Finance Manager | 14–30 | 30–55 | 55–85 | 85–130 | Medium |
| Investor Relations & LP Reporting | 16–35 | 35–65 | 65–110 | 110–200 | Medium |
| Fund Tax & Structuring | 15–30 | 30–52 | 52–80 | 80–140 | Medium |
| Compliance & Regulatory (SEBI AIF) | 14–25 | 25–42 | 42–65 | 65–110 | Medium |
Portfolio side — operating finance placed into portfolio companies
| Role | 2–5 yrs | 5–10 yrs | 10–15 yrs | 15+ yrs | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio CFO | – | – | 70–120 | 120–250 | Medium |
| Portfolio Finance Controller | – | 40–65 | 60–100 | 100–170 | Medium |
| Value creation / operating finance | – | – | 80–140 | 140–280 | Indicative |
| FP&A / Business Finance | 18–35 | 35–62 | 62–95 | 95–150 | High |
Mumbai sets the benchmark for fund-side roles and runs materially above every other city. Bengaluru and Gurgaon follow, with Bengaluru stronger for venture and Gurgaon for growth and buyout. Portfolio-side roles price according to the portfolio company, not the fund, and should be read against the relevant industry section of this guide.
Family offices
Single-family and multi-family offices typically sit below institutional fund ranges on cash, often materially, with the gap addressed through co-investment rights rather than salary. The trade is scope: a family office finance lead usually covers fund accounting, personal and entity tax, and investment reporting in one role, where an institutional fund would split those across three people. Candidates who value breadth accept the discount. Candidates who value scale do not.
A note on scope. This guide covers finance roles. Investment-side compensation for analysts, associates, principals and partners is a different market with a different structure, driven by carry rather than cash, and it is not covered here.
What actually decides a PE, VC or family office finance hire
Fund side and portfolio side are different disciplines. Fund-side finance answers to limited partners and lives in capital calls, distributions, NAV and regulatory reporting. Portfolio-side finance answers to management teams and lives in operating performance, working capital and preparing a business for sale. Conflating the two in a single brief is the most common mistake firms make in this sector, and it is usually discovered at second interview.
Exit readiness is a distinct skill, not a level of seniority. Producing accurate reporting and producing diligence-ready reporting are different jobs. A Controller who has been through a sale process knows what a buyer's advisers will ask for and builds toward it. One who has not will produce clean numbers that still take three months to make presentable.
Family office roles are broader than the title suggests. The scope typically spans fund accounting, entity and personal taxation, and investment reporting, sometimes alongside operational responsibilities that have nothing to do with finance. Briefing it as a Controller role attracts institutional candidates who find the breadth unstructured rather than interesting.
FAQs
PE, VC and Family Offices — common questions
Compare other sectors
Put a Number on Your Role
The ranges are the starting point. Tell us the scope — entities, framework, build or maintain — and we will tell you what the role should actually pay.