Initially, the recruiter informed me that the position was for manual functional testing but I have experience in both automation and manual and asked if I am comfortable with the postion offered and also asked about my expected CTC. I mentioned 18 LPA, as I already had other offers at 16 LPA. HR processed my candidature, and I proceeded with the technical interview. The interviewer was very humble and made me comfortable.Interview went very well and I was happy and positive about it. I was informed on the next day by HR that I had successfully cleared the technical round and before proceeding to other rounds there is one "But". HR informed me that my candidature had been downgraded from L3 to L2, capping the budget at 12 LPA—despite my current CTC being 11 LPA. This was extremely disappointing, especially since I was optimistic about the opportunity and had even rejected other offers and interviews for this role. I expected better transparency and professionalism from EPAM. This experience was truly disheartening.