The honest answer to “how much does it cost to film in India” is: less than you think, and then less again after the incentive. India runs a production at roughly 40 to 60% below US and Western European costs, and reimburses up to 40% of what you spend on top of that. But “less” is not a budget, so this guide breaks it down line by line, in US dollars and rupees at about 83 to the dollar. Treat the figures as planning bands: Indian rates are quoted on request far more than from public cards, so your line producer’s quote against your actual brief is the real number.
Production services: the number to plan around
The first and most important line is your line producer or production-services fee, which runs 10 to 15% of your total India budget. This is the company that assembles crew, equipment, permits and logistics, and it is a legal necessity because only an India-incorporated company can apply for your permission and incentive. The warning we repeat everywhere: a fee meaningfully below 10% usually means the provider is marking up the underlying vendor invoices to make their margin, so you pay it invisibly. Budget the 10 to 15% honestly and insist on transparent, itemised invoicing.
Crew
Crew is where the cost advantage shows. Indian domestic day rates sit well below international ones, and the same role is priced differently for a local versus a foreign job. A cinematographer runs roughly ₹25,000 to ₹1,00,000 a day (about 300 to 1,200 US dollars) domestically, with international rate cards higher. Most other crafts, gaffer, grip, sound recordist, first AD, art and production design, fall within a broad ₹20,000 to ₹1,00,000 band (around 280 to 1,400 US dollars) by seniority, and production assistants sit at the bottom. India’s mid and junior crew are among the cheapest of any major production hub. The caveat, again: per-role Indian rates are not transparently published, so these are bands, not fixed prices. We detail the role-by-role ranges in the day-rate card.
Equipment
Camera and lighting rental is competitive and deep, with every major package available. An ARRI Alexa Mini LF full package runs around ₹75,000 a day (about 900 US dollars); an Alexa 35 lands roughly ₹80,000 to ₹1,50,000 a day. A camera-and-lens line for a shoot typically spans ₹20,000 to ₹1,50,000 a day depending on tier, with lighting and grip often bundled in the Indian quote rather than itemised separately. For perspective on the buy-versus-rent gap, an eight-day RED shoot has been quoted around ₹12 lakh all-in against tens of lakhs to own the rig, which is why renting locally, and avoiding the customs carnet on imported kit, is usually the move.
Locations and permits
Permits stack in layers. The national filming permit through the India Cine Hub is a flat 225 US dollars. On top of that, states and sites charge their own fees: Goa’s state body has charged around ₹25,000 a day (about 289 US dollars) for commercial shoots, and Archaeological Survey monuments run about ₹50,000 a day per site plus a refundable deposit. Private and commercial locations span widely, from roughly ₹50,000 to ₹5 lakh a day (about 700 to 7,000 US dollars), and premium heritage or hero locations can run far higher. Drone and animal-filming permissions carry their own modest NOC fees. The lesson is to budget permits per location rather than as one line, and to lean on a local partner who knows which authority controls what.
Logistics and post
Accommodation runs from about ₹5,000 to ₹20,000 a night (70 to 280 US dollars) at the standard end, with luxury well beyond. Transport, per diems and any customs handling on imported equipment vary too much to pin to a number; budget them by scope. Post-production and visual effects are a particular India strength, running roughly 30 to 60% below US and European rates, and crucially they qualify for the same incentive: pure animation, VFX or post work has a minimum spend of just ₹1 crore, needs no shooting permit, and earns up to the same reimbursement, which makes India compelling even for productions that never physically shoot here.
India versus Thailand, and the incentive offset
Against its main Asian rival, India’s mid and junior crew tend to be cheaper than Thailand’s, while Thailand sits above India but below the West. The decisive difference is the incentive structure. India offers up to 40% of qualifying spend with a cap of ₹30 crore (about 3.6 million US dollars) and a relatively low entry threshold of around 361,000 US dollars for a live shoot, with no minimum at all for documentaries. Thailand offers a tiered rebate topping out near 30% with no absolute dollar cap but a much higher entry threshold. The practical read: India is the stronger choice for small and mid-budget productions and for documentaries, while a very large spend may prefer Thailand’s uncapped structure. We unpack India’s scheme in full in India’s film incentives and co-production treaties.
A worked sense of the total
Put it together and an all-in 10-day shoot in India commonly lands somewhere in the ₹25 lakh to ₹1.25 crore band, roughly 35,000 to 175,000 US dollars, depending entirely on scope, crew tier, locations and equipment. A documentary day is the lowest-friction entry of all: no minimum incentive spend, the lighter Ministry of External Affairs permit route, a flat 225-dollar permit and a lean crew at the bottom of the day-rate band. Whatever the scope, the headline holds: a project that costs you a given number in India is frequently quoted at several times that in the West, and the incentive then refunds up to 40% of the Indian figure.
Where the budget really leaks
The biggest uncontrolled cost in an India shoot is not on this list. It is hiring the wrong people, the unverified DOP who cannot deliver the moodboard, the fixer’s invisible markup, the crew member whose credits were invented. The line items are predictable; the trust is not. TUAP is built to fix exactly that: a verified, India-native network where crew credits are confirmed by the people who were on set, so the budget you plan is the budget you get. Hire on confirmed credits, browse the directory, and check Fair Pay so every quote sits against real market data. The cheapest shoot is the one where nobody you hired was a surprise.