How to Become HR Manager in India: Career Guide 2025

Industry-Wise HR Manager Salary

HR Manager salaries vary significantly across industries:

What is the Average Salary of an HR Manager?

The average salary of a Human Resources Manager in India is approximately ₹ 3,62,327 per year for entry-level professionals. However, MBA salaries can vary greatly depending on location, size of the organization, education, certifications, skills, and experience.

Candidates who are looking to find out how to become an HR Manager should know that HR Managers in larger metropolitan cities in India can make considerably more than prominent HR Managers in cities such as Lucknow. For example, Mumbai offers the highest average salary for HR Managers at ₹6,34,965 per year.

However, for other cities, the average salary of an MBA in Human Resources is lower. For example, HR Managers in Pune, India earn an average of about ₹3,51,799 per year. Thus, when looking at the salary similarities and differences between regions, it is essential to distinguish opportunities in each regard and double down on education, skill building, and work experience when learning how to become an HR Manager.

Global Salary Comparison of HR Managers

Salaries for HR managers vary dramatically from one global market to another, with the US offering some of the best-paying packages. Those interested in how to become an HR manager should note that entry-level to mid-level managers can expect a decent starting salary, while senior-level managers demand significant pay due to their strategic business value.

The tech, finance, and health sectors all provide some of the best compensation packages for HR managers. Larger cities also offer better pay compared to smaller markets. This salary structure shows the strong potential for MBA salaries in India, as Indian HR Managers with international experience or qualifications from a top MBA in HR college in India may leverage this knowledge for global career opportunities.

Top Skills Required for an HR Manager

HR Managers are central to connecting workforce operations with business objectives, driving a positive culture, and ensuring employee relations run smoothly. Those exploring how to become an HR professional should understand that HR Managers act as the central point for recruitment, compliance, and talent retention, using empathy and clear communication to drive employee engagement.

HR managers also design training programs, assist with planned career development, ensure proper succession, and use HR analytics to guide data-driven decision-making. Strong negotiation, flexibility, and change-management capabilities support HR managers' efforts to guide organizations through changes in their business landscape.

Problem-solving

• HR managers have a responsibility to intervene early in workplace disputes. In the face of many factors, HR managers must be flexible, innovative, and responsible, and should seek to resolve issues within policy and standards.

Negotiation

• HR managers use negotiation to realize mutually beneficial outcomes, whether that is mediating between colleagues in conflict or agreeing to a compensation package during the recruitment process.

Time Management

• Since HR managers can address benefits administration, recruiting, and training within one day, they use superior time management to effectively handle concurrent initiatives.

Communication skills

• To conduct interviews, resolve conflicts, and collaborate with employees, colleagues in HR, department heads, and stakeholders, HR managers must reliably communicate verbally and in writing, clearly and persuasively.

Decision-making

• HR Managers rely on strong analytical and critical thinking skills to make confident, reasonable decisions with respect to issues ranging from conflict resolution to defining workplace culture.

Empathy

• HR Managers develop trust and create connections by putting themselves in their employees' shoes; by honestly advocating for people, they demonstrate empathy, and build individual, social, and collective competence among team members.

Organizational skills

• HR managers must apply extraordinary organizational skills because they manage complex projects with competing time demands, to ensure workplace productivity, and to ensure that departments implement their processes, policies, tools, etc.

What are the Roles and Responsibilities of an HR Manager?

The MBA in HR provides students with skill sets to help them connect the departments and be able to align human resource strategies with the organization's real goals. HR Managers deal with legal compliance and keeping good relationships in the workplace. They have a role in navigating the maze of administration, relationships, workplace concerns, problem solvers, and mediators. Their roles and responsibilities vary across the organizational needs, industry, and size of organization.

If you're still wondering how to be an HR, you should help staff address employee issues, resolve conflicts among staff, and adapt their roles to help staff balance external goals and the organization's goals. Learning and understanding the HR Manager's roles and responsibilities is a basic first step towards becoming an HR Manager and succeeding in this field.

• Recruitment and Hiring: The HR manager is responsible for all aspects of the hiring process, including building the job description, posting the job, reviewing applications/resumes, conducting interviews, and offering employment.
• Employee Development: The HR manager identifies employee training needs and develops training programs or initiatives to ensure training and continued development occur, and the employee has opportunities to learn and develop their skills and career.
• Compensation and Benefits: The HR team develops competitive salaries and oversees competitive benefits programs that abide by legal rules and market rates for all compensation programs.
• Performance Management: HR Managers develop measurable performance objectives and key performance indicators, give regular constructive feedback, and conduct employee reviews to improve productivity and growth.
• Legal Services and Policy Formation: HR managers draft policies for the organization that conform to employment laws, activities associated with compliance, and provide training to employees on how to meet regulatory requirements.
• Employee Relations and Dispute Resolution: They help create positive relations among employees by addressing employee grievances, clarifying organizational policies, and resolving disputes between coworkers.
• Human Capital Strategic Planning: HR managers partner with senior-level leaders to assess the human capital needs and determine how to develop a strategic plan that aligns with the larger organization and its long-term growth strategies.

How to Become an HR Manager

Becoming an HR Manager requires a combination of education, experience, credentials, and a leadership style that suits you. These five easy-to-follow steps will help develop your skills and knowledge, and prove how credible and successful you will be in an HR Manager role.

Complete Your 10+2 (Higher Secondary)

• Completing your 10+2 or its equivalent is the first requirement for any HR diplomas or bachelor’s programs. Most colleges require a minimum of 60% for admission to Human Resources courses.

Complete a Bachelor's Degree

• You must have a bachelor's degree, like a BBA in Human Resources, a BA in a related field, or an integrated BBA-MBA program. Many colleges require an MBA in HR cutoff of 45%- 50% or above.

Complete a Master's Degree

• A master's degree is required for an HR Manager role and is often preferred if you have a master's, like an MBA in Human Resources or another master's degree that is advanced and is in Labor Laws and HRM. You will also need to take entrance exams for MBA programs like CAT, XAT, or MAT.

Get Professional Certifications

• While certifications are not a requirement for an HR career, they demonstrate specialized knowledge and help support a culture of lifelong learning. Think about the SHRM-CP, ISTD certification, OD Certification, SPHR, or CPLP to augment your skills and marketability as an HR professional.

Start Your HR Career Development

• When you feel that you have gained some degree of qualifications and experience, you can start applying for HR Manager roles. Many roles will require prior experience, which may be several years of HR experience, and interview preparation will be crucial.