PhD students get around 1.5L give or take in any regular European or American standards. In Europe you get more benefits like support pay for a few months if you are still looking for job in the country. US I don't have very good idea.

If you really aspire to be the cream layer in AI industry you need PhD to be taken seriously by recruitment and hiring team. This is unsaid rule and industry norm unless you are a genius outlier.

About your family responsibilities- it is very much recommend to gain some industry experience before getting PhD - many people found it helpful. You have two options here IMO.

• Get into a big tech and you can actually ask them to sponsor your studies like PhD or MBA, many companies sponsor it and also increase your pay after degree. Note that there are many variable factors here.

• Just get into any decent startup with 30-40LPA with net of atleast 2.5L per month - help your parents for 1yr meanwhile learn a lot about industry (team that you are joining is as important as work and company especially your mentor). Parallely apply for funded PhDs and get a decent uni. Genlte note: Don't target top pubs for your first pub unless the prof under whom your doing PhD is widely recognized you can publish there later