Average salary hike up to 9.8% in 2023: Report

New Delhi:

India Inc is likely to see an average salary increase of 9.8 percent in 2023, which is slightly higher than the 9.4 percent increase in 2022, and for top talent, the increase will be much larger, says a survey.

According to the latest Korn Ferry Compensation India survey, organizations are focusing on retaining critical and key talent through various talent management initiatives and formal retention and compensation schemes.

The survey of 818 organizations with more than 800,000 incumbents indicated that salaries are set to rise by 9.8 per cent in India in 2023.

While the increase declined significantly at 6.8 percent in the pandemic-hit 2020, the current growth trend reflects the resilience and ability of leaders and employees to reimagine and rebuild for a sustainable future.

In line with India’s focus on building accelerated digital capabilities, the survey predicted significant increases in the life sciences, healthcare and high-tech sectors of 10.2 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively.

“Although recession and economic slowdown are being discussed around the world, there is optimism about the Indian economy with projected GDP growth of 6 percent upwards,” said Navneet Singh, Chairman and Regional Managing Director, Korn Ferry.

Navneet Singh further noted that for top talent, the salary increase can range between 15 percent and 30 percent.

Expectations of salary increases for some other sectors include services (9.8 percent), automobiles (9 percent), chemicals (9.6 percent), consumer goods (9.8 percent), and retail (9 percent).

While the macroeconomic outlook is positive, there are new and growing pressures on companies: changing customer preferences, digital transformation, increased collaboration, and more.

To stay ahead, most companies will need to transform their workforce to meet these demands. Furthermore, 60 percent of the organizations in the survey indicated that they have adopted some type of hybrid model.

Meanwhile, employees in Tier 1 cities continue to receive higher compensation in India, when compared to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

However, as the hybrid model and remote working evolves into an accepted norm, “we are seeing a shift towards work becoming location-neutral, helping Tier 2 cities like Ahmedabad and Pune compete for Tier 1 cities in the fixed annual cash received by employees,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by the Alendronaterx staff and was published from a syndicated feed.)