India’s salary growth at 9.2% in the coming year: the salary forecast by Korn Ferry

• The global salary forecast by Korn Ferry pegged India’s salary growth at 9.2% in the coming year.
  
• This is expected to be the highest across Asian countries.
  
• However, the real-wage salaries in India is anticipated to be constant at 5%, thanks to low inflation.

India’s salaried employees may hope for a good summer. The global salary forecast by Korn Ferry, a management consulting company pegged India’s salary growth at 9.2% for the coming year — which is the highest across Asian countries.

However, the real-wage salaries in India is anticipated to be constant at 5%, thanks to an estimated 4.2% inflation.


“India posted a strong growth despite real wages taking a hit globally. With our current economic scenario and progressive reforms by the government, there is a sense of cautious optimism across sectors in India that continues to show high salary increments. We recommend organizations to re-examine their talent strategies and remuneration and reward policies, considering the rising cost of living, leading to marginal real wage increases,” said Rajiv Krishnan, managing director of Korn Ferry Advisory India.

The salaries in India are growing in an inconsistent manner. “Companies will continue to differentiate their top performers, high potentials and critical talent. Given the increasing cost pressures on the businesses, fixed salary sees a slow growth whereas high performers will continue to see a steady growth in total remuneration including performance incentives,” added Roopank Chaudhary, associate client partner at Korn Ferry India.

And it will be much higher than the average salary increase in the US — which is at 3%.

Globally, Asia is expected to have the highest real wage growth at 3% with the salary forecast to grow by 5.3%. The lowest salary growth is expected in Japan and Taiwan at 2% and 3.9% respectively.

“Compensation programmes need to be regularly reviewed to make sure they align with changing business and market conditions. Companies take a broader perspective by defining and agreeing upon their own measures of cost drivers, business strategy and local trading conditions,” said Benjamin Frost, who is the global general manager of Korn Ferry.

The report analysed database of over 20 million salaried employees across 25,000 organizations in more than 130 countries. The predictions are as per the trends for 2019, taking into account inflation and other growth factors.

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