Short answer: Decline it — in most cases. A counter offer is your current employer's bid to keep you after you resign, and it usually fixes the salary, not the reason you started interviewing. Accept only if money was your only complaint, the correction is structural and confirmed in writing, and everything else about the job still works. Otherwise: thank them, hold your last working day, and leave with the door open.
A counter offer is the raise, promotion or retention bonus your employer offers after learning you have resigned. In India it usually arrives as a call from your manager within a day or two, then an HR meeting and a revised number.
If that money existed, it existed last quarter. A widely shared story reported by India Today in March 2026: a candidate earning around ₹1 lakh got a ₹1.7 lakh offer from a new company; his employer countered at ₹1.9 lakh, he stayed — and was laid off four months later. "A counter-offer is not a reward. It's a strategy to buy time until they find someone cheaper," the HR professional who shared it wrote. One anecdote is not data — but it shows how counters often get funded: as a bridge agreement, not a budget correction.
What does the published data say about accepting a counter offer?
Start with the famous number, then discard it: "80% leave within six months" is repeated everywhere and traceable to no study. The surveys that exist are milder and more useful:
- Hays Salary Guide: of employees counter-offered in a year, around 46% leave anyway — just 29% are still there after 12 months.
- CIPD's Labour Market Outlook (2,000 UK employers, 2023): 40% had made a counter offer in the past year, but only 45% believed counters retain people for a year or more, and 29% called them ineffective.
- Robert Half's 2026 salary guide (500 hiring managers, surveyed October 2025): 85% of employers extended a counter offer — yet 32% of those employees still left within 12 months.
- SHRM, the US HR body, reviewing the research: around 57% of employees who accept a counter offer change companies within 24 months.
Caveat: these are UK, Australian and US datasets — India has no comparable public survey, so read them as directional. The pattern — counters buy months, not years — travels anyway.
Then the money, in Indian terms. Aon's Annual Salary Increase and Turnover Survey 2025-26 projects average 2026 increments of 9.1% in India — and just 6.6% in technology consulting and services. Michael Page's India Salary Guide puts a typical job-switch hike at 20–25%, and 30–40% for critical and emerging-skill roles. Staying earns the increment; moving earns the market — and the increment rarely settles anything: foundit's Appraisal Trends Report 2025 found about 85% of employees planned to switch even after receiving a raise. A counter offer tries to split the difference from one employer's budget, with your salary band unrevised.
Should you accept a counter offer? The four-question test
Answer these in writing, against the reason you started applying — not the new offer's salary.
- 1. Was money the only reason? If your list runs to manager, scope, growth or culture, a raise heals none of it. Money being near the top is not money being the only item.
- 2. Is the raise structural or reactive? Ask out loud: "Where does this sit in my band — and how does it interact with my next appraisal?" A correction that survives the next appraisal is a raise; a sum pulled forward from your April increment is a loan — you will learn which when your next "increase" is 2%. Counters in India are timed against the appraisal calendar — get the interaction on paper.
- 3. What changes beyond the number — and is it in writing? A new title with identical scope is theatre; "a more interesting project" is not a project. A named project or a new reporting line can go into a revised letter — what cannot be written down does not exist.
- 4. Do you trust this employer after this? Best evidence: the last person on your team who resigned and stayed. Still doing well? Good sign. Cannot name one? That silence is information too.
Three solid answers is the threshold to consider staying. Fewer, and you are buying your employer time — not your career a better year.
When is accepting a counter offer actually right?
The clean case — and a few edges:
- Money was the only problem, and the fix is structural. You like the team and the manager; the outside offer was a salary play, not an upgrade. The counter is a band correction, in writing, that survives the next appraisal.
- You found real red flags at the new company during notice — funding trouble, layoffs, your future manager quitting. A counter buys a pause — keep a plan; the original reason may return.
- Something personal changed mid-notice — a parent's health, a move, a pregnancy. Stability now outweighs the switch premium; just admit that is the reason.
- Equity vests in the next three to six months. Do the rupee math — and discount any ESOP that needs a liquidity event to be worth anything.
When should you decline?
Decline when money is not the wound: a manager you no longer trust, stagnant scope, no growth, a declining company, a domain change. Most reasons people interview cannot be fixed by a raise. Two triggers common in India:
- "We'll make it right next cycle." Next cycle is months away with no enforcement mechanism. If it matters, it belongs in a letter today.
- Pressure to decide on the spot. Ask for 48 hours. How an employer behaves under that request tells you how the next two years will feel.
How do you respond to a counter offer? (scripts for both paths)
Buy 48 hours. "Thank you — I want to review the revised role and compensation properly before I respond. Can we speak on Thursday?" Then email the same day: "Thank you for the revised offer of ₹X. I will confirm my decision by Thursday." The email timestamps the number — offer conversations mutate without one.
If you decline (the default), use one sentence. Every extra reason becomes a negotiation point:
"I am genuinely grateful for this, and for everything I have learned here — and I have made a commitment I am going to honour. My last day remains Friday. Let's make the handover clean."
Then confirm in email and keep the notice period professional to the last hour — the manager countering you today is a reference in three years.
If you accept, get it in writing before you withdraw anything. The revised letter should carry the new fixed pay; the full CTC breakdown (see our guide to CTC and in-hand salary); designation, scope and reporting line if they change; the effective date; how the raise is treated at the next appraisal; and any retention bonus with its clawback window. Then send your own summary email that evening — "confirming: revised fixed pay of ₹X from 1 November, scope as per the letter dated today" — so silence cannot rewrite the deal later.
What are the India-specific mechanics people get wrong?
- Your notice period is now the most valuable card on the table. IT and services contracts in India commonly run 60–90 days. If you have accepted elsewhere, your last working day is a live negotiation — treat it that way.
- Withdrawal is an agreement, not a delete button. Once your resignation is accepted, staying happens because the employer agrees — which is what a counter offer is. Get HR's confirmation in writing; the file, not the conversation, is what your next appraisal cycle sits on.
- If you flip to staying, tell the new company within 24 hours — by phone, then email. If you received a joining bonus, expect to return it per the letter's terms.
- If you still end up switching mid-year, mind the tax year. Two employers in one financial year means two Form 16s and two TDS calculations, each assuming its salary is your whole income — most people owe a little at filing. Keep every payslip (sequencing matters at the offer stage too).
FAQ: counter offers in India
Should I accept a counter offer after resigning in India?
Usually not. Accept only when money was your only reason for leaving, the fix is structural and in writing, and you would otherwise be happy to stay. If the counter is "next cycle" promises or a short-term patch, decline: just 29% of acceptors are still there after a year (Hays).
How do I decline a counter offer politely?
In one conversation, with thanks and one sentence: "I am grateful for this, and I have made a commitment I am going to honour. My last day remains [date]." Confirm by email the same day. Every extra reason becomes an invitation to negotiate it.
Can I withdraw my resignation if I accept the counter offer?
Yes — a counter offer is, in effect, your employer agreeing to the withdrawal. Get it in writing (revised number, effective date, any role change) before you tell anyone you are staying — treat it as a new agreement, not a retraction.
What do I tell the new employer while I decide?
Confirm by a specific date — and hit that date. If you stay, tell them within 24 hours, by phone first: a clean "no" is remembered far better than a slow one.
Is the "80% leave within six months" counter offer statistic true?
No traceable study backs it — it is recruiter folklore. The published numbers are milder but still cautionary: Hays finds 29% stay beyond a year; Robert Half's 2026 survey found 32% left within 12 months; SHRM cites around 57% gone within two years. Decide on your four answers, not on a meme.
What if I already accepted the counter offer — can I still leave later?
Yes, without drama: do not make a second impulsive move to undo the first. Re-run the four questions after a calm month; if they fail, restart your search quietly — and if the stay ends in a layoff, our first-72-hours plan for India is the fastest restart.
Key takeaways
- A counter offer fixes money, not reasons. If your reason for interviewing was anything other than pay, declining is usually correct.
- The surveys agree: counters retain a minority — Hays 29% beyond a year, Robert Half 32% gone within 12 months, SHRM 57% within two years. "80% in six months" has no traceable source.
- In India the gap is structural: Aon projects 2026 increments averaging 9.1% (6.6% in IT services), while Michael Page puts typical switch hikes at 20–25%, and 30–40% for critical skills.
- If you accept, get the structural version in writing — fixed pay, scope, effective date, appraisal treatment, clawback. What cannot be written down is not on offer.
- Decline in one sentence and confirm in email. Your next negotiation starts with the salary playbook for India IT.