New Delhi, Jan 30: The year 2003 brought cheer to corporate employees with salary-increases ranging between 9.5 per cent and 12.6 per cent, continuing with the rising trend witnessed in the previous year.

A robust GDP growth and higher business confidence are the two critical factors leading to higher average salary-increases in 2003, a survey by Hewitt Associates, the global human outsourcing and consulting firm, says.
The six-year period preceding 2002 was one of declining wage-increases
For 2004, the Hewitt study projects the average salary increase to range from 9.7 per cent to 13.4 per cent across all employee groups.
Between November 2003 and January 2004, Hewitt surveyed 521 foreign-owned, locally-owned and joint venture organisations across 23 industries representing 650,000 employees.
The comprehensive India-wide survey, eighth in the annual series, measured actual and projected salary-increases and compensation practices for five employee groups. These are senior and top management, managers, professional and technical supervisors, clerical staff and manual workers.
It found that salary-increases ranged between 9.5 per cent and 12.6 per cent in 2003 compared to increases between 7.7 per cent and 10.9 per cent in 2002.
Bureau Report