India is the best paymaster in Asia Pacific ahead of Japan, Australia: Survey

According to the HR consultancy Aon Hewitt, the average salary hike of Indian employees this year is likely to be around 9.4%. As companies increase focus on performance and on hiring specialists, key talents may achieve as much as 15.4% increase in salary.

“With critical skills shortage highlighted as a key concern, companies are becoming more cautious while recognising and remunerating their key talent,” Anandorup Ghose, Partner at Aon India Consulting told reporters.

Aon Hewitt's annual 'Salary Increase Survey' studied more than 1,000 companies from over 20 industries and estimates the average pay hike in the country to remain between 9.4-9.6%. 

According to the survey, Indian employees received an average hike of 9.3% during 2017 -- a departure from the double-digit increments that were registered when the study was still in its nascency. 

A look at salary-hike trends across the Asian Pacific region puts India at the top as the best paymaster in the region. China is expected to give out an average raise of 6.7% to its employees followed by the Philippines at 5.8%, Malaysia 5.1%, Singapore 4%, Australia 3.2% and Japan at a meagre 2.5%.

Professional services, consumer internet companies, life sciences, automotive and consumer products are the sectors projected to dole out double-digit salary hike in 2018.

Meanwhile, the attrition rate in India continues to see a downward trend, now standing at 15.9% from an average of 20% registered in the previous decade.