The Hindu Business Line : Salary growth highest in India : Study

Market trends point towards sector shifts, growing levels of attrition and variable salaries and India has emerged as one of the highest salary growth markets.

HR managers seem to seek innovative ways to harness and retain talent as the market is witness to demand-supply constraints.

Similar trend seems to provide a connecting link not just in the knowledge-based technology sector, but also in other verticals such as retail, marketing and BFSI too.

The Cluster Lead, IT & ITES, Hewitt Associates, Mr Nitin Sethi, said a recent study has indicated that the salary growth was the highest in India during the last two years at 14.1 per cent followed by the Philippines (8.1 per cent), China (7.9 per cent), Korea (6.9 per cent), Thailand (6.4 per cent), Singapore and Taiwan (4.2 per cent).

This momentum is set to continue this year where the IT sector salary is set to grow by about 13.7 per cent, and ITES and BPO growth may be by 15.5-16 per cent.

Salary growth

Given the current forecast of India continuing to be the fastest growing economies in 2006-2007 and the potential to be third largest in terms of purchasing power parity (displacing Japan to the fourth position), this salary growth is likely to continue, he said. Speaking at a Nasscom event on HR best Practices: Talent Management & Rewards, Mr Sethi said talent in 3 to 7 years has emerged as the hottest property.

This is one area that is witness to differential salary compensation, which is something new in the Indian context.

Interestingly, many professionals in this category are also shifting their career path as the industry has an appetite to acquire people with cross-functional capabilities.

The pressure on finding the right fit for an organisation is such that job shifts have become common, thereby subjecting HR managers to greater pressure, he said.

Talent retention

Mr Sethi said the efforts lately have been directed towards retention of talent. This is not by merely hiking salaries but giving an ideal relational reward that balances work and family life.

his is because salary alone cannot ensure retention and loyalty as others can match this.

The Head of Human Resources at HSBC Global Resourcing India, which employs about 11,000 people, Mr Rajgopal Raghavan, said given the current attrition levels, which varies from sector to sector and city of operation, large corporations are faced with the task of developing a pipeline of talent, where a clear succession plan is drawn.

The Head of HR Offerings Group, Satyam, Mr Ratnesh Sharma, said one of the things employers need to understand is to learn from associates what they have in mind.