According to a survey, salaries in India are projected to rise by 10% in 2020, the highest in the Asia Pacific region.
The latest Q3 Salary Budget Planning Survey Report released by Willis Towers Watson, which looks at a range of jobs across various sectors, says salary hikes in India have been stabilising around the 10% mark since 2015. In other Asia Pacific regions, the hike in salary is projected at 8% in Indonesia; 6.5 % in China; 6% in the Philippines; and 4% in both Hong Kong and Singapore.
"Though salary increases in India still continue to be among the highest in the region, companies are taking a cautious approach and do not intend to make any significant changes from previous years," said Rajul Mathur, Consulting Leader, Willis Towers Watson India.
The median salary increase at the executive level for 2020 may rise at 10.1%. The hike will be 10.4% for middle management, professional and support staff. The employee group of production manual labour could see an average hike of 10.3%, the report said.
The advisory firm in its survey found only 28% of companies have projected a positive business revenue outlook for the next year, which is down from 37% in 2018. The report suggests companies could slow down recruitment efforts in light of their "cautious business outlook".
The report also said hiring activity has slowed down in sectors like automobile, auto ancillary and engineering fields, while it's stable across high-tech sectors, shared service outsourcing, pharmaceuticals, energy, retail and chemicals.
"The energy sector is expected to see a jump from 8.5% in 2019 to 9.3% in 2020; the financial services sector is projected at 9.7% in 2020 from 9% last year and the consumer products sectors is expected to see an increase from 9.5% in 2019 to 9.9% in 2020," said the report.
The survey also projected a huge demand for premium skills in emerging fields like blockchain, AI and machine learning, cybersecurity and dev ops in the next 12 months.