New Delhi: Aon Hewitt, the global human resource consulting and outsourcing business of Aon Corporation, announced today the results of the 17th edition of the Annual Salary Increase Survey. Reflecting the growth expectations of 5 percent, India Inc. projects an average salary increase of 10.3 percent for 2013.

The study shows a wide variance of salary increases across sectors. Financial services, Technology, Outsourcing have seen the greatest volatility and remain cautious in 2013. Consumer & Industrial sectors which so far have been resilient, also reported conservative increase projections.

Sandeep Chaudhary, Partner - Talent & Rewards at Aon Hewitt India commented: “In sync with the economic outlook, 10.3 percent increase is among the lowest the country has seen in a decade (barring the subprime crisis year). Though business sentiment is strengthening on account of inflation reaching a three year low and stock markets raising upwards, the cautious streak are evident in the projected salary increase numbers”.

In recent years there is a shift in the way increments are managed in organizations. With shrinking salary budgets, organizations are creating sharp differentiation in salary increases between their key talent and the rest of the population. Over the years this gap is widening. This year, key talent (Hi-Potentials, Hi-Performers & Critical Talent) is projected to get an average increase of 14.1 percent.

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Sandeep added, “Cost consciousness and performance orientation are the key themes this year. Organizations are looking at compensation and productivity together and hence closely evaluating the return on compensation spent”.

Despite a year in which India’s growth came to a decade low, corporate India reported an average overall attrition of 19.3 percent for 2012. With a growing recognition that key talent is a sustainable competitive advantage, organizations are reshaping their strategies to safeguard this talent group. This is also reflected in the lower average attrition number for key talent at 5.7 percent.

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