India leads in salary hike: survey

NEW DELHI: India has demonstrated a double digit growth in salary hike for the fourth year running, the highest in Asia Pacific region, with global HR consulting firm Hewitt Associates forecasting an average 14.5 per cent wage hike in 2007.

"Salaries in India continue to rise and will most likely reach the same levels as more developed economies in Asia in the future," Sharad Vishvanath of Hewitt Associates told reporters while presenting the Hewitt Salary Increase Survey.

Globalisation and increased competition for talent pool are forcing companies to dish out more in terms of incentives and compensation to attract high quality professionals and retain them, Vishvanath said.

Interestingly, locally owned organisations are awarding higher salary hikes than multinational companies in India.

"In 2006, domestic companies saw an overall salary increase of 14.9 per cent compared to the 14.3 per cent hike given by foreign-owned organisations," he said.

Homegrown organisations have aligned compensation practices to that of global standards to strengthen their reward management practices and focus on pay for performance to attract and retain talent and enhance overall productivity, he added.

Hewitt Associates' Sandeep Chaudhary said Indian companies are retaining key employees with equity-based compensation and creating employee ownership.

However, he said India is way behind its western counterparts in terms of adequate leverage of equity related incentives.