CTC Is the Biggest Trap of the Corporate World

But It Begins at Home.

Before you understand what work even means, you’re handed a number. Your cousin gets placed. Your neighbor casually drops their son’s 42 LPA like it’s weather news. An uncle asks your package before your name. You learn early that your worth isn’t your ideas, your questions, or your clarity. It’s your CTC.

In B-schools, it becomes ritual. Students compare offers like trading cards. 21 LPA. 28 LPA. 44 LPA with joining bonus. Careers get chosen based on pre-placement talks, not purpose. CTC becomes shorthand for value. Your rank in the social order.

It leaks into dating apps.
"Where do you work?"
"Oh FAANG. You must be earning in crores"

Even matrimonial apps come with CTC filters.
“Earning 65 LPA, seeking similar profile.”

But CTC is a theatre. A psychological lie dancing on the stage.

Companies inflate it with variable bonuses, gym memberships, meal credits, gratuity, stocks that never get vested. It looks impressive. But your take-home rarely reflects the brochure. You don’t get paid in CTC. You get paid in its fraction.

Companies also inflate it to lock you. Once you get a certain CTC, other companies cannot afford you. You get stuck in the rut hoping for a magic to happen.

Historically, India measured worth differently. In agrarian life, wealth was land, legacy, and community. Among traders, it was wisdom and trust. In old society, value was contribution.

Now, it’s CTC digits.

And those digits start dictating everything.

You pick jobs, cities, and partners based on what it does to your graph. You fear pausing, pivoting, experimenting because the number might drop. You stop asking what excites you. You ask what pays more.

CTC turns life into an auction.

You feel judged for switching to a smaller firm. For wanting to teach. For taking a sabbatical. You fear being seen as someone who couldn’t “keep up.”

This is how ambition turns into anxiety.

CTC becomes a psychological leash. Parents love to show off. LinkedIn celebrates it. But no one checks the cost.

You lose rest.
You lose space.
You lose play.

The number looks clean. But the life behind it often doesn’t.

And that’s the real danger.

CTC gives you identity.
But it steals your story.

So if you're in a job that pays well but leaves you drained - ask yourself who you’re doing this for.

Because the number won’t sit beside you at the hospital.
Your sanity and peace will.

There’s no LPA for a life well lived.
Choose wisely.