With average 9.8% salary hikes, India to offer highest increment in 2024

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Here is a piece of information that will surely produce music for salaried ears. Companies in India are expected to offer increments averaging 9.8% in 2024 which will catapult the country to the position of the country with highest salary increments in the Asia Pacific region, especially when considered along with the average of about 10% rise this year. Willis Tower Watson’s Salary Budget Planning Report has stated this calculation, The Economic Times has reported.

Vietnam is supposed to feature an average hike of 8%, which puts it in second place. The countries that follow are China (6%), Philippines (5.7%) and Thailand (5%).

The survey for the Salary Budget Planning Report was conducted in April and May this year. It was based on about 32,512 sets of responses from companies across 150 countries.

The salary hikes in India appeared especially high when considered against the backdrop of rising inflation and tight labour markets since both are supposed to impact increments. But, when compared to 2022, over 50% of the companies raised their wage budgets this year. Another 25% hiked their salary budgets beyond the projections they made in December last year, WTW’s Salary Budget Planning Report said.

Of all the sectors, the highest hikes of 10% are expected to come from retail, technology, gaming, financial services and media.

Companies in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector (10% vs 9.8%), retail (10% vs 9.9%) and captives (9.9% vs 9.8%) have projected marginally higher increases for 2024 when compared against the actual salary increase in 2023 due to the continued demand for talent. Rajul Mathur, consulting leader, work and rewards, WTW India, said “Companies across industries are still closely monitoring their cost structures.”

The Hindu has stated that according to the survey, 36% of the businesses projected positive outlook for the following 12 months. This is a drop from 42% projecting a positive outlook at the same time last year.

As far as hiring is concerned, 28% of the companies would make recruitments in the next 12 months. As much as 60% of the companies have raised employee count in 2023. The report also states that IT, engineering, sales, technical skills trade, financial, marketing and HR would witness recruitments in the following 12 months.