A Dubai-based advertising executive has sparked a discussion about stagnating salaries in India’s creative industry after claiming that copywriters in Mumbai earn almost the same as they did over 2 decades ago.
In a LinkedIn post, Shantesh S Row, Chief Creative Officer at Slant Advertising in Dubai, shared his experience, recalling that his last drawn monthly salary in Mumbai before moving to Dubai in December 2004 was ₹60,000 before tax.
“I was a Copy Supervisor then, with around 6/7 years of experience in creative,” Row wrote. “22 years have passed, and even today the salary level for a copywriter in Mumbai, with similar experience, is almost the same number. So, either advertising was paying fabulously two decades ago, or something is fabulously wrong at present,” he added.
Row went on to explain that cumulative inflation in India has risen by around 200-220% between 2004 and 2026. “This means that a standard basket of goods and services costing ₹100 in 2004 requires around ₹300 to ₹320 in 2026 to maintain the exact same purchasing power (and this is being ultra conservative with the numbers),” he wrote.
“Pretty much illustrates why we aren’t able to attract and/or retain the best creative talent in advertising. The remuneration at most levels just hasn’t kept pace,” he said, adding that while workloads have increased, compensation has not.
“Everyone’s been sold blue elephants and the lure of awards. The real elephant in the room for creatives is the lack of rewards. That is the uncomfortable truth,” Row concluded.
How did social media react?
His remarks resonated with several LinkedIn users, who blamed the rise of agencies offering lower salaries and questioned whether industry benchmarks had kept pace with inflation.
One user wrote, “I genuinely didn't think the salary was so good 22 yrs ago. And the fact that it hasn't changed today. Either the benchmarking went completely wrong or the number of ad agencies that opened up offering low salary to senior copywriters have increased. I think it's the latter that disrupted the market for the worse. Benchmarking didn't even account for inflation at this rate?! That's ridiculous at all levels. I won't go into the AI field because it's still emerging and the vote is yet to be drawn. I wonder what the ad folks can do to rectify this gap and how can it be done or will it ever be done? “
“It’s not just with Advertising. Even in IT - mass recruiting firms like TCS/infosys used to pay ₹3-3.5LPA and now also it’s broadly around the same ₹3.5-4 LPA range. But totally agree with the premise of your post,” commented another.
“Absolutely the elephant in the room. I guess the industry is not charging the clients enough, therefore not making enough money and therefore not paying the right salaries. Or because they are not paying enough, they are unable to get the right talent and therefore unable to produce quality work that can justify higher charges to clients…Only the industry seniors might know where we stand,” wrote a third user.