What is suitable salary for maid part-time/live - in, babysitter

Hi,
I'm living in South-Delhi. My maid asks for 400 Rs per work per month. It means, 400 Rs per month for sweeping and washing up (this is taken as 1 work), 400 Rs for washing the dishes. I have a washing machine, so she doesn't wash the clothes, but my previous maid asked for same amount for washing clothes as for the other works. Only for cooking they ask more, she asks 700 Rs for cooking (rice or chapati as per need, one daal or some other curry, and 1 or 2 fries). For cooking she originally asked for 900, but we bargained and she agreed to 700 Rs per month. But it's not like a 4 hours job, she comes, does the work, and leaves as soon as she is done. But usually cooked fast, so it didn't turn out very great, so I took that part over, now she only sweeps, washes up and washing dishes, all these for 800 Rs per month.
I don't have baby sitter, but I suggest you to find a good young girl (12-15 year old), instead of an adult. They are honest and more trustworthy if you manage them well.

sorry to comment out here parnapig.. but don't advice someone to employ a kid as a maid.. Its not appropriate

Hi there parna... thanks for the response. That sounds very cheap in comparison to what I'm paying my current maid. I had a Nepali born (half-Indian) live-in maid prior to this one and she requested Rs9000 which we offered without negotiations. She did everything, cooking (breakfast and dinner), bed spreading, floor wiping, bathroom cleaning, laundry (W/M) and ironing. She was disrespectful. Now this current maid I offered Rs5000 PT for basic cleaning, laundry, ironing except cooking). She speaks English. Over the phone the rate went up to Rs6000, face to face she requested Rs10000, now we're paying her Rs9000 same as live-in because she's travelling from South Delhi to Gurgaon. Babysitting from time to time is included in that, which she agreed. I had in mind that babysitting shouldn't cost more than Rs400 each nighttime 4x per month max. She is Delhi born. She is separated from her husband and has to pay rent and take care of two kids. She also has another part time job doing. Since she started she has been finishing up within 3 hours. Does your maid speak English? I feel really cheated. Today (less than a week) she's already sick. Let's see how often this will be...

@ Dilip... I don't think she was suggesting a child maid...

parnapig39 wrote:

I don't have baby sitter, but I suggest you to find a good young girl (12-15 year old), instead of an adult. They are honest and more trustworthy if you manage them well.

My maid doesn't speak English, I mean, she understands very basic instructions, and anyway once you tell or show her what she is supposed to do, no much communication is required. Even if it's a babysitter, I would be quite happy if she speaks to my son in hindi, at this age the babies are like 'sponges', they learn languages very fast. English you might be anyway using.

I think instead of paying 9000 :-o to someone coming from Delhi, you should simply ask a neighbour lady if she can help you out in finding someone who doesn't fool you with such an amount. Either her own maid if interested in extra work, or someone in her maid's circle. We did the same, and next few days 5-6 maids came, so we even had choices.

Thanks a lot, I will check around. She's absent again today, the second time in just her first week, so I'm gonna look around for someone more reasonable and much cheaper.

Thanks for the reply Utopaz, based on some feedback I've been getting from a few people, a range of 5000-7000 part time for non-English speaking maid is high, and for English speaking ones 12,000 is super high. There are expats/foreigners who pay the same as a local would. I guess it depends on the maid and how daring they are to ask for so much...testing the waters to see how far you're willing to go...how much you're willing to pay. In the end I guess it's all about negotiation and how much you're willing to pay for the amount of work that they will be doing.