Highest Paying Design Careers in India: Salary, Colleges and Hiring Companies
Design is one of the most dynamic industries in India. This industry is showing a massive increase in employment and job opportunities for people. Read in detail to know about the highest-paying career opportunities in India.
Highest Paying Design Careers in India
Making a career in Design demands a creative mind and soul, along with hard work. As this industry is booming very fast, it is offering lucrative salaries to people. One can become a Fashion designer, Footwear designer, Jewellery designer, Textile designer, Apparel Developer, Knitwear Designer, Apparel Developer, Sampling Coordinator, Pattern Maker, Fashion Stylist, Visual Merchandiser, Photographer, etc, if he/she pursues Design as a career in India.
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- Top Highest-paying Design Career Opportunities in India
- Salary of Design Careers in India
- Colleges and Exams to get Admission in Design Colleges
- Top Companies Hiring Design Graduates and Post Graduates
Top Highest-paying Design Career Opportunities in India
Some of the highest paying careers in Design are given below.
- UI/UX Designer: With the rising demand of IT companies, e-commerce services, apps, etc, UI/UX designer is trending. It focuses on understanding user needs and designing user-friendly interfaces.
- Graphic Designer: This specialization is trending because there is an increase in demand for branding, marketing, advertising, etc. Graphic Designers work on illustrations and layouts. They use various graphical tools, like Adobe Photoshop, Figma, CorelDRAW, etc.
- Advertising and Brand Designer: Here, the main work is to design ad films, short films for brands for promotion. Big companies hire brand designers for their brands and pay them really well.
- Product Designer: This specialisation opens the door to industries like consumer electronics, tech innovations, etc. Many startups are also emerging, which require a Product designer to bring new products to the market. It required designing physical or digital products.
- Animation Film Designer: It is one of the most trending fields as there is a boom in the OTT and gaming industry. It focuses on creating animated content for short films, documentaries, games and social media. Brands like Vodafone, Disney, Mc Donald's hire Animation film designers.
- Fashion Designer: This career can never go out of trend. The fashion industry is dynamic and creative, with new trends every day. It focuses on apparel design and market trends. For example, the revival of Benarasi Saree or Sustainable clothing by famous brands like H&M and ZARA, all comes under Fashion Design.
- Interior Designer: With the increase in infrastructural development, like apartments, studio apartments, cafes, and restaurants, there is a demand for Interior and Spatial Design graduates and post-graduates. They focus on eco-friendly and modern designs.
- Sustainable Designer: The world is now focusing more on curbing the effects of globalisation. More focus is now being given to making recyclable and sustainable products, which are eco-friendly. A career in Sustainable Design helps in getting into organisations that focus on creating such products and services.
- Game Designer: The Gaming industry has seen tremendous growth in recent years. This career focuses on designing games and interactive experiences. This industry is growing at a very fast pace and offeres good salary.
- Social Impact Designer: Social Impact Designer is the new trend as big organisations, NGOs and even the government are hiring professionals to solve social problems by designing products and services that will help in curbing social problems. Graduates with this specialisation will need to focus on solving social, environments and community challenges with their products and services.
Salary of Design Careers in India
The average salary of design careers in India is given below.
| Career | Average Salary |
|---|---|
| UI/UX Designer | 5.6 LPA |
| Graphic Designer | 1.7 to 6.3 LPA |
| Advertising and Brand Designer | 3.8 to 19.0 LPA |
| Product Designer | 3.5 to 26.0 LPA |
| Animation Film Designer | 4 - 8 LPA |
| Fashion Designer | 5 - 10 LPA |
| Interior Designer | 9 to 25 LPA |
| Sustainable Designer | 4 to 20 LPA |
| Game Designer | 4.7 to 15 LPA |
| Social Impact Designer | 4.5 to 6 LPA |
Colleges and Exams to get Admission in Design Colleges
Some of the top institutes to study design are given below.
| Exam Name | Conducting Body | Top Institutes | Course Offered (B.Des and M.Des) |
|---|---|---|---|
| NID DAT | National Institute of Design | NID Ahmedabad, NID AP, NID Haryana, NID Madhya Pradesh | Graphic Design, Animation, Product Design, Textile, Film & Video, Exhibition, etc. |
| UCEED | IIT Bombay | IIT Bombay, IIT Guwahati, IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIITDM Jabalpur | UI/UX, Product Design, Visual Communication, Mobility Design, etc. |
| NIFT Entrance Exam | National Testing Agency (NTA) | NIFT Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, etc. | Fashion Design, Textile, Knitwear, Accessory, Leather, Fashion Communication, Apparel Prod. |
| SEED | Symbiosis Institute of Design (SID) | SID Pune | Communication Design, Industrial Design, Fashion Communication, Fashion Design |
| AIEED | ARCH College of Design & Business | ARCH Jaipur | Fashion, Interior, Product, Graphic, Jewellery Design |
| Pearl Academy Entrance | Pearl Academy | Pearl Academy (Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Jaipur) | Fashion Design, Product Design, Communication Design, Interior Design |
| IIAD Entrance Exam | Indian Institute of Art and Design | IIAD | Fashion Design, Communication Design, Interior Architecture |
| Srishti Entrance (SMEAT) | Srishti Manipal Institute | Srishti Manipal (Bangalore) | Animation, Industrial Arts, Digital Media, Visual Communication, Contemporary Art |
| MIT DAT | MIT Institute of Design | MIT Institute of Design, Pune | Product, Transportation, Interior, Graphic, Fashion Design |
| UPES DAT | University of Petroleum and Energy Studies | UPES School of Design, Dehradun | Game Design, Product Design, UI/UX, Interior, Animation |
Top Companies Hiring Design Graduates and Post Graduates
Some of the companies which hire people from design background are given below.
Five participating institutes of NID DAT exam offer B.Des program. These include NID Ahmedabad, NID Andhra Pradesh, NID Haryana, NID Madhya Pradesh and NID Assam.
Seat intake for the B. Des stands at 425. NID Ahmedabad has an intake of 125 seats, while the rest of the NIDs each have an intake of 75 seats. Note that seats are reserved for categories like General-EWS, OBC, SC, and ST categories.
Candidates from the Science Stream with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics as subjects are eligible to apply to IIT Guwahati. Also, note that Biology will not be considered in lieu of Mathematics.
IIT Roorkee has the same eligibility criteria as IIT Guwahati.
The application form for UCEED 2026 must be filled out by candidates after ascertaining their eligibility.
Explore more Design exams with upcoming date
19 Jan '26 - 22 Jan '26
There are 19 NIFT colleges that offer admission for 2026 academic session. The list below gives the names of all NIFT Institutes in India.
S.No | NIFT Campus |
|---|---|
1 | NIFT New Delhi |
2 | NIFT Chennai |
3 | NIFT Gandhinagar |
4 | NIFT Hyderabad |
5 | NIFT Kolkata |
6 | NIFT Mumbai |
7 | NIFT Bengaluru |
8 | NIFT Raebareli |
9 | NIFT Bhopal |
10 | NIFT Kannur |
11 | NIFT Shillong |
12 | NIFT Patna |
13 | NIFT Kangra |
14 | NIFT Bhubaneswar |
15 | NIFT Jodhpur |
16 | NIFT Srinagar |
17 | NIFT Panchkula |
18 | NIFT Daman |
19 | NIFT Varanasi |
The participating institutes of NID DAT 2026 offers B. Des and M.Des courses. The B. Des programme is available at five participating NIDs and has an intake capacity of 425 seats. Meanwhile, the M.Des programme is three NIDs and has a combined intake of 347 seats.
Admission to both B. Des and M.Des courses will be through the NID DAT entrance exam. The seat allotment to the above courses wlll be based on respective merit lists which will be prepared considering weighted scores of DAT Prelims and DAT Mains.
The fee structure for the design courses offered by the NIFTs is published in the information brochure. The NIFT fee structure includes components like tuition fees, library fees, exam fees, mediclaim, etc. Additional, the fee may also be divided into refundable and non-refundable types.
We can have a look at 2025 fee structure and understand the NIFT fee structure (Regular):
Academic Fee Semester Wise For Non-NRI Category (In INR) | ||||||||
| 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | ||||
| Semester 1 | Semester 2 | Semester 3 | Semester 4 | Semester 5 | Semester 6 | Semester 7 | Semester 8 |
Tuition Fee (Non-Refundable) | 143000 | 143000 | 150000 | 150000 | 158000 | 158000 | 166000 | 166000 |
Library Fee (Non-Refundable Per Year Payment) | 9500 | 0 | 10000 | 0 | 10500 | 0 | 11000 | 0 |
Mediclaim & Student Development Fee (Non-Refundable Per Year Payment) | 4700 | 0 | 4900 | 0 | 5100 | 0 | 5400 | 0 |
Exam Fee (Per Year) | 4700 | 0 | 4900 | 0 | 5100 | 0 | 5400 | 0 |
Total | 161900 | 143000 | 169800 | 150000 | 178700 | 158000 | 187800 | 166000 |
One Time Payments | ||||||||
Security Deposit (Refundable) | 12000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Alumni Association Membership Fee (Non-Refundable) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5900 | 0 |
Registration Fee (One Time) | 9300 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total | 21300 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5600 | 0 |
Total | 183200 | 143000 | 169800 | 150000 | 178700 | 158000 | 193700 | 166000 |
- Raymonds
- Arvind Garments
- Levis
- Madura Garments
- Omega Designs
- Pantaloon
- Shahi Exports
- Spykar
- Uni Style India
-
Pearl Global
-
Kimaya
- Indus League Clothing
- United Colors of Benetton
- ITC Ltd.
- Lifestyle
- Modelama Exports
- Orient Craft
- Proline
- Span India
- Swarovski India
- Texport Overseas
- Shoppers Stop
- Mahajan Overseas
- Gokuldas Images
- H&M
- Zara
- Marks and Spencer
- FabIndia
- Aditya Birla Fashion
- Myntra
- Nykaa
- Ajio
Sayeba Naushad is a commerce postgraduate from Banaras Hindu University. She has over five years of experience in content writing and editing. She has a nose for current events in design field. At Shiksha.com, she s
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There are 19 NIFTs that will accept NIFT 2026 Scores for admission purposes. These institutes are known as participating colleges.
However, in addition to the participating colleges, there are other private colleges that will also consider NIFT 2026 scores for admission to their UG and PG design courses. The candidates are urged to go through the list of result-sharing institutes.