Indian telecom service providers are expected to offer an average pay increase of 9.1 percent during 2018, according to Aon, a global professional services firm.

Industry sectors such as Professional Services, Consumer Internet Companies, Life Sciences, Automotive and Consumer Products project double digit salary increase for 2018.

Consumer Internet Companies over the past 3 years have seen a significant drop of 250 basis points, from 12.9 percent to 10.4 percent projected for 2018.

Hi Tech/ Information Technology sector is projecting an average hike of 9.5 percent in 2018. Third party IT services which provide majority of the employment in India are projecting an average hike of 6.2 percent.

Companies in India gave an average pay increase of 9.3 percent in 2017 marking a departure from the double digit increments given by organizations since the inception of this study. The projections for 2018 are expected to be at 9.4 percent highlighting increasing prudence and maturity being displayed by companies while finalising pay budgets.

A top performer is getting an average salary increase of 15.4 percent, approximately 1.9 times the pay increase for an average performer. The bell curve is sharpening with significant drop in the percentage of people in the highest rating.

“Despite an improvement in macro-economic forecasts – salary increases remain at the same level as was projected in last fiscal. With increasing maturity, HR budgets are being realigned towards top performers as opposed to the broader population,” Anandorup Ghose, partner at Aon India Consulting, said.

There is an emerging focus on rationalization of budgets. Companies are increasingly taking into account the base effect e.g., pay increases for top and senior management is consistently going down.

The overall attrition has come down from an average of 20 percent in the previous decade to 15.9 percent in 2017.