If you work on Indian sets, you already know the dirty secret about day rates. There is no single number. There is a union minimum that exists on paper, there is what a stingy line producer tries to pay you, and there is what you actually get when you have leverage and a credit list. Those three numbers can be far apart. This card is built to close that gap. It lays out honest day-rate ranges for the main crew crafts in 2026, from spot boy to gaffer, and it tells you where the union floor stops matching the market.
Read the ranges as ranges, not promises. Your real number moves with city, season, who is paying, your reputation, and whether you bring kit. A Mumbai gaffer with his own light package and a streaming credit list is in a different universe from a first-year light man in a tier-two city. Both are gaffers on the call sheet. Neither rate is wrong. The point is to know your band before you quote, so you stop leaving money on the table and stop pricing yourself out of work you wanted.
FWICE minimums versus real paid rates: what the union number actually means
The Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) is the parent body for a large set of craft associations across the Mumbai film and TV industry. It traces back to the late 1950s and is based in Andheri. It acts as the umbrella over dozens of affiliated craft unions covering setting workers, light men, spot boys, hairdressers, dance, and more. Through its member associations and its agreements with producer bodies, it sets minimum day rates and working conditions for many crafts.
Here is the part nobody tells a newcomer clearly. The FWICE minimum is a floor, not the market. It is the lowest a producer who follows the agreement is supposed to pay a registered worker for a standard shift. On a real film, ad, or OTT set, the paid rate for any skilled or in-demand crew member usually sits above that floor, sometimes well above. The minimum protects the bottom of the labour pool. It does not describe what a good gaffer or a sought-after focus puller commands.
Two more things matter. First, the formal union scale mostly governs registered workers on union shoots in the Mumbai system. A lot of ad films, corporate work, indie projects, and shoots outside Maharashtra run partly or fully outside that frame, where rates are pure negotiation. Second, the agreement between FWICE and producer associations has been contested and renegotiated repeatedly over the years. So treat the union number as a reference point to argue from, not a guaranteed wage.
The 2026 day-rate card: Mumbai real-paid ranges by role
These are realistic per-day ranges for working crew on decent Mumbai film, OTT, and ad shoots in 2026. They are real-paid bands, not union minimums, and not single numbers. The low end is junior or low-budget work. The high end is experienced crew on well-funded ad or streaming jobs. Where a craft brings equipment, the rate often includes or sits alongside a kit rental, which is separate money.
| Role | Mumbai real-paid day range (2026) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Spot boy | ₹1,000-1,800 | Higher on ad shoots. Long days are common |
| Light man / lighting assistant | ₹1,200-2,500 | Skilled riggers at the top end |
| Gaffer (chief lightman) | ₹6,000-20,000+ | Top end on big ads/OTT. Kit package is extra |
| Focus puller / 1st AC | ₹5,000-15,000 | Camera-craft premium. Varies with format |
| Assistant director (AD) | ₹2,500-8,000 | 1st AD far above 3rd/4th AD |
| Production sound recordist | ₹6,000-18,000 | Usually includes or pairs with kit rental |
| Art / set assistant | ₹1,500-4,000 | Art director is a different, higher bracket |
| Production assistant / coordinator | ₹1,500-5,000 | Coordinators with vendor networks at the top |
If your real number is below your role’s band for no good reason, you are being underpaid, not humble. If you cannot reach the band yet, you are early, and that is fine. The card tells you where the ceiling is so you know what you are working toward.
Spot boys and light men: the bottom of the call sheet, the most underpaid
Spot boys and junior light men are where the gap between what is fair and what gets paid bites hardest. These crafts are the most replaceable on paper and the most squeezed in practice. The union floor exists precisely to protect them, and it is exactly here that some producers try to pay below it, pay late, or stack a 16-hour day onto a single-shift rate.
If you are in this bracket, three things move your money. Showing up reliable. Being attached to a senior who pulls you onto jobs. And refusing to work for less than the floor on a registered shoot. The daily number is small. The relationship is the asset. A spot boy trusted by a line producer gets called first and paid on time, which beats a higher quote that arrives three months late or never. If a producer is ghosting your payment, read our guide on what to do when a client is not paying.
Gaffers and focus pullers: where skill and kit blow the range open
At the skilled end, the day rate stops being about the union scale entirely. A working gaffer’s number is set by his reputation, his crew, and his light package. Bring your own lights and the conversation splits into two: a labour day rate for you and your team, plus a rental for the kit. That rental can dwarf the labour line. A gaffer with a serious LED and tungsten package on a big ad can invoice numbers a junior would not believe, because the client is paying for capability, not just hours.
Focus pullers and camera crew carry a craft premium for the same reason. A blown focus on a hero shot costs a reshoot, so a trusted 1st AC is cheap insurance. That trust is what you charge for. If your craft sits adjacent to the camera or the DOP, your real-paid band tracks closer to the cinematographer’s economics, which we break down in DOP day rates in India.
ADs, sound, art and production: the middle that negotiates hardest
The assistant director ladder is wide. A 4th AD running breakdowns and herding background is near the bottom of the day-rate table. A seasoned 1st AD who runs the floor and protects the director’s schedule is in a different bracket and worth every rupee, because a good 1st AD saves the production more than they cost. If you are climbing this ladder, our guide on becoming an AD in India covers how the steps actually work.
Production sound is its own economy. The recordist almost always comes with kit, so the day rate is really a bundle of labour plus gear. Art and production roles span the widest range of any craft on this card, because an art assistant and an art director are two different jobs at two different price points, and a production coordinator with a real vendor network is worth far more than a runner with a clipboard. In all three, the day number is negotiated more than dictated, which means knowing your band is the whole game.
Mumbai versus the rest of India: the city gap is real
City changes your rate more than craft does. The same focus puller doing the same work can sit roughly 2x apart between Mumbai and a smaller market, because the buyer pool, the budgets, and the competition are all different. Mumbai has the most money, the most union structure, and the most crew chasing it. That cuts both ways: higher ceilings, but also more people willing to undercut.
- Mumbai: highest ceilings, strongest union frame for registered crafts, biggest ad and OTT budgets. Also the most competition.
- Hyderabad / Chennai: strong, busy film economies with their own craft unions and their own rate norms. High-volume work, often different pay structures than Mumbai.
- Delhi NCR: ad, corporate, and digital heavy. Day rates can rival Mumbai on ad work, thinner on feature work.
- Tier-two cities and locations: lower local floors, but a Mumbai crew flown in for a shoot keeps Mumbai rates plus travel, stay, and per diem.
The lesson: do not quote a national number. Quote your city number. And if you are travelling for a job, your rate is your home-market rate plus outstation loading, not the local floor of wherever you landed.
Per day looks good, per month tells the truth
A high day rate is not a high income if you only work eight days a month. This is the trap with ad and OTT work. The per-day number is higher than film, but the jobs are shorter and gappier. A gaffer charging a strong daily rate on three ad days a month earns less than a steadier crew member on a 25-day feature schedule at a lower daily. Both are real careers. Only one of them feels rich on the day rate.
When you set your number, run the monthly math, not just the daily. Factor your real working days, your unpaid prep and recce days, your gear maintenance, and the cost of the slow months. The day rate is a quote. Your annual income is the business. If you are early and trying to fill the calendar, our guide on getting film crew work without knowing anyone is the place to start.
How to read the union floor without getting played
A union minimum does two useful things and one dangerous thing. It tells you the lowest legitimate number on a registered Mumbai shoot, and it gives you a hard line to refuse below. That is the useful part. The danger is treating the floor as the target. Producers who quote the minimum to a skilled crew member are not offering a fair rate. They are testing whether you know your worth. Anchoring to the floor is how good crew end up paid like juniors for years.
So separate the two numbers in your head before any call. There is the floor, which is non-negotiable downward on a union job. And there is your real-paid band, which is what someone with your craft, credits, and city actually commands. Quote from the band. Use the floor only as the line you walk away below. If a producer cannot clear the floor, the job is not underpaid, it is illegitimate, and the payment risk that comes with it is usually worse than the low rate.
What actually moves your rate up
- A credit list buyers trust. Verified, checkable credits are the single biggest lever. A line producer pays more for someone whose work they can confirm.
- Owning kit. If your craft uses gear, owning it adds a rental line on top of your labour. Often the bigger number.
- Being a known quantity. Reliability and not blowing the schedule are worth a premium, because they de-risk the whole shoot.
- Knowing your band before you quote. The crew who get underpaid are usually the ones who do not know their role’s real-paid range and accept the first number offered.
- City and travel loading. Quote your home-market rate, add outstation loading, and never default to a destination’s local floor.
How to use this card without getting it wrong
Find your role, find your city tier, and place yourself honestly inside the band by experience and demand. That gives you a quoting range, not a magic number. Then check it against what peers in your exact craft and city actually get, because this card is a starting map, not the territory. The TUAP benchmark exists to keep that map current, built from real crew data rather than rumour and one anonymous WhatsApp screenshot.
And know the floor. The union minimum, where it applies to your craft, is the number below which you should not work on a registered shoot. It is not your target. It is the line you refuse to go under while you negotiate up to your real band. If you are being asked to take less, you are not being humble, you are subsidising the producer’s budget.
TUAP and Fair Pay: stop guessing your number
TUAP is free for crew. You claim your page, build a verified credit list that buyers can actually trust, and get access to a Fair Pay survey and benchmark built from real Indian crew rates, by role and by city. The whole point is to replace the no-single-number fog with an honest band you can quote from and defend. Browse the directory to see how verified crew present themselves, then add your rate to the Fair Pay data so the next person on a set like yours quotes from truth instead of fear.