Salary increase for India projected to be 10.6% in 2010

Salary increase for 2010 in India is projected to be 10.6%, the highest in Asia Pacific, and up 60% from the actual increase of 6.6% in the previous calendar year, according to Hewitt Associates.

Bangalore: Salary increase for 2010 in India is projected to be 10.6 per cent, the highest in Asia Pacific, and up 60 per cent from the actual increase of 6.6 per cent in the previous calendar year, according to HR services firm Hewitt Associates.

Indian-owned companies are expected to outperform MNCs with a projected average increase of 11.4 per cent as against a 10.2 per cent by the latter, it said in a statement.

Energy, Telecommunications, Pharmaceutical, EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) and automotive are among sectors projecting highest increases ranging from 11.6% to 12.8%.

Technology and Outsourcing sectors have shown tremendous recovery over 2009, but are playing cautiously with single digit increases in the range of 8.5 per cent to 8.9 per cent.

These findings were revealed in the 14th annual Salary Increase Survey covering 465 companies across 20 primary industries.

Sandeep Chaudhary, leader of Hewitt?s Performance and Rewards Consulting practice in India, said: The economy has shown faster recovery in sectors that rely on domestic growth and consumption, while recovery in sectors that have global dependence is expected to gain speed by mid 2010. This growth and the fact that 2009 saw a lot of salary freeze and salary cuts, are providing an impetus for healthy increase in compensation for employees.

The one definitive change in compensation philosophy reinforced is the performance and reward linkage, with top performers receiving twice as much salary increase as compared to average performers, it said.

PTI