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Manila vs Delhi, India: Cost of Living
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I wanted to understand about the cost of living comparison between Delhi, India and Manila, Philippines. I make INR 30LPA gross in Delhi and have a job offer for USD 70k in Manila. Any Experienced inputs? Married, no kids.
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I'll try to draw the comparison having lived in both the countries. But few assumptions and clarification. You own your own house in Delhi, with no rental /EMI going out of that 30LPA. Even if it does , it probably won't be more than 50–100k ?With just the two of you that means you lead a very upscale life , and no liabilities.Good savings and investmentNow when you are in Manila Is this income net or gross. The income tax rate here for that bracket is 32% .Will the employer provide your house rental and trips back home allowance.Based on above factors these details on expenses should be able to help you. If your employer is not providing you accomodation ,Rental in manila is high to very high. 1 bedroom apartment in an expat friendly community won't be less than 1200 USD. So you'll be downsizing a lot compared to your Delhi home.Grocery and house help. It's on the higher side. Can easily run into 500 USD per month.Trips back home , if not covered by employer will set you back by couple of thousand dollars.If adding Manila to your resume helps you , it is an acceptable compromise .Feel free to dm if you need specific insights.. Cheers.
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70K USD gross in Manila is PHP 3.6M per annum, or (because the Philippines has 13th month pay) PHP 277K per month. This would be quite a senior role. Tax rate would be effectively 34% so net pay would be PHP 183K per month. 30 LPA (3M INR) is $42K per annum. So the Manila deal is significantly better in absolute terms. However: almost everything is more expensive in Manila. Cars, housing, domestic servants. Quality of life is about the same in my opinion – although I have only visited India (Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore) for short business trips. Given the pay differential ($70K versus $42K) I would say your quality of life would probably be the same, or slightly better, in Manila. It is possible to live cheaply in Manila, though – and if you can do that, you would be able to save a lot more money. However, dining out in Manila is expensive (say $50 for a decent dinner for two) and there aren’t many good Indian restaurants. One positive is that overseas experience will be an advantage on your CV, and $70K is higher than $42K no matter how you swing it. So when you move to your next job, you would be able to ask for a higher level of compensation based on your compensation history.