Heena Sharma Blog

With businesses and economic activity almost halted for over a month now amid the coronavirus crisis and the nationwide lockdown, around 36 per cent companies in India are considering a freeze in salary hikes to manage their costs, according to a report by Korn Ferry. In India, the most commonly implemented measures for rewards and benefits are promotion and salary hike. The report said that 23 per cent of organisations have suspended promotion increases and 18 per cent have deferred or delayed salary increases. The Korn Ferry report said: "36 per cent of organisations have implemented or are considering implementing a salary freeze to manage costs." Read More

The economic slowdown is beginning to reflect in the salary hikes of India Inc. The average salary increase in 2020 is projected to be 9.1 per cent, the lowest in a decade, according to the 24th edition of Aon Plc’s annual salary increase survey. In 2018 and 2019, companies increased average salary by 9.5 per cent and 9.3 per cent, respectively. After the financial crisis of 2008, the average hike had slumped to 6.6 per cent. The projected increase for 2020 is lower than the average salary hike that graduates of top Business schools have managed at around 12 per cent. The good news, however, is that despite gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimates getting revised downward, the average salary increase for 2020 will be only 20 basis points lower than that of the previous year. Moreover, double-digit salary increments have not vanished entirely. While the average for the country has come down, 39 per cent of the companies are still willing to give double-digit salary incr