India's Average Salary Hike Expected to be Marginally Higher than Last Year at 9.7 Percent: Aon Hewitt Report

New Delhi: Employees in India are expected to get an average salary hike of 9.7 per cent this year, a marginal increase from last year, while top performers will get 15.6 per cent hike as companies are focusing on performance and productivity.

HR consultancy firm Aon Hewitt's annual salary increase survey predicts an average salary hike of 9.7 per cent across industries as companies expect a positive economic outlook backed by high economic growth expectation, high domestic demand and low inflation.

Last year, the survey had projected an average salary increase of 9.5 per cent.

Continuing the trend, India continues to lead the Asia-Pacific region. Russia is expected to dole out a salary raise of 7.2 per cent, South Africa 6.7 per cent, Brazil 5.8 per cent, the US 3.1 per cent, Australia 3 per cent and UK 2.9 per cent.

The top five industries giving double digit increase are consumer internet companies, professional services, life sciences, consumer products, automotive/vehicle manufacturing, the report said.

Besides, the differentiation in salary increases further widened this year to 1.9 times between top performer and average performer where the overall the top performer is expected to get an average salary hike of 15.6 per cent.

The major point highlighted by the survey is -- the reducing difference in pay increases across industries year on year.

On attrition, the survey said it has fallen steadily over the years from 18.1 in 2014-15 to 15.8 for 2018-19. However the involuntary attrition (lay offs) has gone up, prominently in the case of entry level.

Commenting on the impact of new government formation on salary hike, Anandorup Ghose, Partner at Aon India Consulting said, "if positivity comes in the economy post election, regardless of how government performs, the positivity will last for next one year which will lead to higher pay increase for the next year."

Ghosh further told reporters that the double digit pay increase days are well behind us, as India Inc shows maturity in managing economic and political cycles.