Future Trend

New Delhi, Feb. 19: India will see an average salary increase of 8.2 per cent this year, the highest in the Asia-Pacific region, despite a slowing economy.

The average annual salary increases between 2003 and 2008 in India was over 10 per cent. In 2008, the average hike was 13.3 per cent. Salaries rose the highest in 2007 by 15.1 per cent, Hewitt Associates said in a release.

In the Asia-Pacific region, the highest salary rise after India would be in China (8 per cent) and Thailand (6 per cent). Latin America will see a salary hike of 12.3 per cent.

Employees in Europe can expect an average pay hike of 4.2 per cent in 2009, down 0.9 per cent from original projections. In the US, workers will see the lowest raise in three decades, with average increases of 3 per cent, down 0.7 per cent from 2008 forecast.

Indian exporters have shed around 5 lakh jobs, while industry shrank 2.3 per cent in the November-December period. However, the economy is expected to grow 7.1 per cent in 2008-09 and by around 7 per cent next year on the back of a robust industrial growth in the first part of the fiscal and a still growing services sector

“With inflation well below 4 per cent, an average increase of 8.2 per cent can be considered healthy,” Hewitt said.

According to the firm, more than 60 per cent of the 480 companies surveyed between December 2008 and January 2009 are still hiring and nine out of 10 companies will be giving promotions.