Engineering service, auto sectors will lead hiring in 2011-12

Salary increases in India are projected to be 12.9 per cent, up marginally from the actual hike of 11.7 per cent in 2010.

According to the findings of the 15th annual Salary Increase Survey by global HR firm Aon Hewitt, India has outpaced Asia Pacific again with the highest salary hikes in the region, followed by China and The Philippines, projecting 9 per cent and 7 per cent hikes respectively.

Double-digit increases will continue for the next several years and are expected to be in the range of 12-15 per cent across industries. The engineering service sector has given the highest salary projection of 14.4 per cent in 2011, followed by automotive at 14 per cent.

Sector-wise

Automotive, energy and infrastructure companies, which rely more heavily on domestic investment and consumption, top the salary increase charts for the second year in a row. These sectors are backed with cost effectiveness and capability to deliver high value complex services making engineering service sector's long-term growth look robust with the highest salary increase projection of 14.4 per cent in 2011.

Energy and infrastructure sectors have projected hikes at 14 per cent and 13.9 per cent respectively, says the study.

Pharma, telecom and retail have been consistent performers in the last two years and are expected to give about 12.4 per cent to 13.2 per cent increase. The outsourcing and technology sectors remain sensitive to cost and hence are reporting a relatively lower salary increase of 11.9 per cent and 12 per cent respectively.

The study collected data from 531 organisations representing 18 primary and 30 secondary industry sectors from December 2010 to January 2011.

Interestingly, the gap between the highest paying and the lowest paying industries has narrowed in 2011 (2 per cent to 2.5 per cent) as compared to a gap of 4 per cent to 5 per cent between industries at the beginning of the decade.

Cadre-wise

In a cadre-wise segmentation, the study found that junior management, professional, supervisory staff who have two to seven years of work experience are attracting the maximum salary increase budget of 12.4 per cent as actual increase for 2010 and projections of 13.3 per cent for 2011.

Mr Sandeep Chaudhary, Regional Practice Leader, Compensation Consulting, Asia Pacific, Aon Hewitt, said that the early sign of resurgence in India has led to improved strategic spending on employees ? through salary increases, incentives and hiring.

?Traditionally, salary increases in India are directly linked with the level of economic activity and talent demand and supply, but this year rising inflation also is playing a role in determining salary increase budgets.?

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