Scene: The day of placements at your b-school and there is palpable tension in the air and you finally hear the news – the XYZ Company has offered you a job and you have been offered an annual package of Rs 11,00,000 ! You blink for a moment and realize that you earn 1.1 million rupees annually! Not bad considering the situation the economy is in! And you slowly start putting on the airs of a new Rupee Millionaire till you receive your first pay check in hand. You see that you have got only Rs 60,000. Doesn’t that mean you are just receiving 7.2 Lakhs? Or considering Tax deductions, where did my 2.8 - 3 lakhs go? You start cursing the HR and the inefficient payroll department of your company and decide to give a earful to your payroll department, when they explain the situation in one word – ‘CTC’! CTC? It is not even a proper word, it’s an abbreviation! And yet it is supposed to explain where fantastic sums of money from your salary have disappeared!