Salary increments in IT companies in India

Salary increments in IT companies are lower this year than it has been in previous years. In some cases, significantly so.

EDS is giving an average increment of only 8 per cent to 10 per cent this year, substantially lower than the 18-20 per cent it gave last year.

"In some cases last year, it even went up to 40-50 per cent," said an employee of the company. That's the increment trend across the tech sector. "We have received lower increments this year," said an employee of Infosys Technologies. "Laterals got only some 8 per cent hike. A company security policy e-mail has also asked us not to share such details with anyone outside.''

Mohandas Pai, head of education & training in Infosys, said that inclusive of variable pay, the company's increments this year were in the range of 11 per cent to 13 per cent, against 13-15 per cent last year.

Senior HR executives at some large tech firms confided that their companies are not in a position to increase salaries '' beyond single digits' ' at least for a couple of years, till the global markets stabilize .

''Companies are hit from all corners. Market downturn, increase in hiring cost and billing pressures is choking even large players. This has forced them to drastically revise their increment formula,'' says Mohan Lal Menon, managing director, Sentient Consulting, a corporate consulting firm. The biggest pressure is seen to be coming from the US, which looks to be quickly slipping into a recession.

Almost 60 per cent of the revenues of many Indian IT companies come from the US. Tech firms are increasingly moving away from an equalitarian regime in compensation.

''Companies preferred it as they wanted to keep employees across the board (except the bottom 10%) happy, to keep attrition at bay. But in today's scenario, cost pressures are compelling them to change that approach,'' said the HR director of a tier 1 tech firm.