Last I calculated someone earning 200k INR in 2007 has to be earning nearly 800 k INR by 2017, just to ensure that their earnings are not eroded by inflation. And this is going by government official figures. On ground figures are even worse.

Now when you double that salary it comes to 1600k. And is where another caveat kicks in. I know people who make around that with similar experience as sures. So, he is successful for sure but also in the top 95% percentile of the Indian IT salary figures.

Salaries can start VERY low. Shockingly so, at least to me. And they ramp up quickly. The unfortunate side-effect is frequent job-hopping - it's easier to get a big raise by moving (not that dissimilar to the US, just orders of magnitude more impactful).