No it is not ridiculously large. It is large, hence the word "top range". There are people making that kind of money but yeah some of them don't have "developer" in their titles and are probably called "Architects"[0] or similar[1]. We are talking of really good people who, for whatever reason (often family etc) do not want to work in the USA etc.

Salaries in Bangalore are heavily dependent on "years of experience". The way the HR folks calculate expected salary is something like 2-2.5 lakhs Indian rupees(about 4-5k US $ depending on the exchange rate) * number of years of experience. So with about 12 years of experience[1] you should be getting about 48-60k$ if you are still coding and are at least somewhat good at your job. This is the average* though and falls precipitously as you move towards the bodyshopping end of the bell curve. (You can still make this kind of money as a manager though, even at the most cheapskate bodyshopper)

The really good folks get better salaries than that. The interesting thing about Bangalore is that the range of salaries is wide. You have barely literate "coding bodies" (who the "outsourcers" encounter) drawing puny salaries and also very senior devs who can pick and choose where and what they work on and get close to US salaries(and often have spent a few years in the USA before heading home for good).

So yes 100k is high but not ridiculously so, (If by "ridiculous" you mean someone getting such a salary is some kind of absolute rarity, and an object of wonder when spotted). Otoh I've never heard of any kind of dev/tech person getting say 200k $ or more, though I know people in the US who do. (they are pretty rare too)

"I'm actually completely blown that a person at a software company in Bangalore could be making that much."

You really should talk to some senior devs in Google's (say) Bangalore office ;-). Twenty years from when outsourcing took off,things have changed, even in Bangalore although that change is still unevenly distributed. Not every dev in India is grubbing for the crumbs from the outsourcer's table any more.

That said, this is just my viewpoint based on what I see. Consume with appropriate dosages of salt. Even better talk to some world class Indian devs who chose to stay on in or come back to India and find out for yourself.

[0] Of course some "architects" are just people who got old and never got promoted, just is in the USA.

[1] Title Inflation is a real problem due to differing social expectations etc which is a subject that would take pages to explain.

[2]there is heavy pressure to move into management (see [1]) and it is only the really committed devs who stay coding for 10 years +. Which makes their supply all that much rarer for when you really need them.

Interesting. I have been living in Chennai for some time and had no idea salaries in Bangalore could get that high for people choosing to stay on development and not move into management. So I guess what you're saying is since it's a less popular career track, companies that want that kind of experience pay well to get it

As a dev at msft in Hyderabad, I know that salaries around 100k (gross, not base) are quite possible for senior devs with over a decade of experience. However, we need some perspective here. There are 2.5 million people working in the IT-BPO industry in India. Of those a mere 100k work in product companies (domestic or MNC captives). My rough estimate is that about 1-2k of this 100k are developers making 100k USD. Outside of product companies (2.5 million - 100k), in the IT service companies, about one in every 300-400 guys makes $100k - and that guy is almost always a senior management guy.

Also, while a few make $100k, $50k is common for people with over a decade of good experience - but do remember that there are relatively very few folks (<5-10% of the industry) in India with over a decade of experience.

"companies that want that kind of experience pay well to get it" is a very concise way to put it. Yes that was exactly what I was trying to say. I guess I am also saying that if you are really good (which is rare by definition) you'll find (these days) that there are more companies (than there used to be) who are looking.