"I've researched that average market standard for people of my skills and experience is 20 LPA." So go and get one of those jobs instead of this one.

Haha, I know I can get this reply from the HR. But that's why I'm asking the experts on this community on what should I say? (as I'm pretty naive in this salary negotiation thing).

There is no magic statement that is going to change their mind. You need to convince them you are worth 20 LPA, which will be hard given your previous company thinks you're only worth 14 LPA.

Ok. But how I'll convince them? I'm kind of stuck on this part. Although to convince them, I say, along with the development part, I'm also experienced in mentoring the juniors, so, I bring a lot more on the table than the others.

Are you negotiating an offer of 14 LPA to 20 LPA with the same company? If that's not the case, how is the company in the dialog aware of your 14 LPA offer?

"But how I'll convince them?" Apply to another company, get a job offer of 20 LPA. If you can't do that, your statement that the "market standard" is 20 LPA is incorrect.

@JulianaKarasawaSouza I got an offer of 14 LPA from company A and I'm using this to get an offer of 20 LPA from company B.

@WarWithSelf What you've got is basically proof that Company A thinks you are only worth 14 LPA. It is, in effect, weakening your bargaining position.

@PhilipKendall I agree that my market standard of 20 LPA is incorrect but to get an offer of 20 LPA, I need to convince the company to give me 20 LPA. So, how should I do that especially in the salary negotiation round? I know that they can give me 17 LPA, but I want them to add 3 LPA extra. So, how should I communicate this cleverly and counter the 5 points which I have mentioned in the question?

@GregoryCurrie but my current salary is also 9. So, if I straightaway ask 20 from 9, then it will be much more difficult to get than 20 from 14.

@WarWithSelf Actually, your "middle step" weakened your bargaining position more than just disclosing your current salary. Asking for 20 and having a current salary of 9 is perfectly justifiable if you're playing the "I'm grossly underpaid" angle

@WarWithSelf There is no magic way to get paid 3 LPA more. If they were, you could take them from 17 to 20, and then from 20 to 23, and then 23 to 26 and then... So, what you're asking for has to be grounded in reality in some way.

@GregoryCurrie and Juliana so, what should I do then? Please advice. I understand that whatever I'm telling the HRs (whether 9 or 14 or 20) is wrong according to you guys. But what is the solution? How should I approach the salary discussion round according to you guys?

It would be great if you guys explain - what should be the right way of salary discussion (with examples) rather than just saying what I'm doing is entirely wrong.

@WarWithSelf Do you want to salvage this situation or just advice moving forward?

If they have indicated a hard maximum, you need to either agree with that, or find a competing option that is palatable to you and be prepared to walk away from the deal. Sometimes you can't negotiate higher. That's just the way it is. You've done well to go from 9 LPA to 17 LPA. But you can lose it all if they don't think you're worth the hassle.

"Can anyone please advice on how to counter these questions?" Politely leave the company and get another job.

Try applying for another company, say that you have an offer of 17 LPA (or maybe 18 LPA) – these guys just offered you 17, so you're not even making it up – but that you aren't satisfied because the market average for people of your skill and experience is in the range of 24-25 LPA, and then if they say "hm..., we can give only 10-15% hike on that offer. 20 LPA is the maximum we can offer", all you have to do is to somewhat begrudgingly accept :) May or may not work, but you won't know until you try it (perhaps more than once, at different companies).

P.S. And don't try to go beyond that, trying to justify why you want such a high salary - those are just your terms, based on your own needs and value assessment, you don't care and don't have to respond to remarks about what other candidates are satisfied with or able to get. And if the company isn't willing to accept these terms, you have to be willing to walk away - at least during the time frame you want to run this experiment (during your several attempts). You don't know a priori if 20 LPA is unrealistic, but these "tests" give you some info. E.g. now you know you can get min 17

#1, #2 and #3 all seem like red flags. Especially #3. Yes, money is literally the only reason anyone wants most jobs. Don't let them tell you otherwise.