Heena Sharma Blog

The Kerala government will bring an ordinance to defer up to 25 per cent salaries of its employees after the High Court order barred it from taking a tougher cost-cutting measure during the coronavirus outbreak , said a minister on Monday. Soon after the weekly cabinet meeting, State Finance Minister Thomas Issac told the media that the government has decided to come out with Disaster and Public Emergency Special Provisions Act which will give it the power to defer payment of salaries, up to 25 per cent of all state government employees. "This is not against yesterday's high court order, instead we have abided by it. We are not going to go in appeal against stay order. The State government is using the provisions in the Act. The provision in the Act is clear as it says this can be done when a health emergency or a disaster strikes. 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