Indian execs get highest hike in Asia

India Inc has topped among its Asian peers on the front of monetary measures taken for retaining the right talent while doling out highest salary hikes to its finance executives across the region.

According to the CFO Asia, magazine's latest compensation survey, chief financial officers (CFOs) as well as the second-tier finance executives in the country got the highest pay hikes in Asia in 2007, while beating out those in places such as Singapore, Hong Kong and China.

While CFOs in India got a pay hike of 25 per cent last year, that for financial controllers, treasurers and other second-tier finance executives rose by 28 per cent.

In comparison, China recorded a 14 per cent hike, Hong Kong 11 per cent, Indonesia 14 per cent, Malaysia 19 per cent, Singapore 10 per cent and an Asian average of 16 per cent for CFOs.

For controllers, the second highest hike after India was seen in China at 13 per cent, followed by 12 per cent in Malaysia, 11 per cent in Indonesia, 9 per cent in Singapore and 5 per cent in Hong Kong, resulting in an Asian average of 15 per cent.

In terms of actual base salary, the Indian CFOs were paid an average of $92,206, third highest after Hong Kong and Singapore, but higher than the Asian average of $59,846.

The average CFO salary in China was less than half of India at $41,990. For second-tier finance jobs, the average salary in the country stood at $39,888 "� fifth highest after Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The magazine said that talent crunch was unlikely to ease despite the threat of a US recession as many economists believed it might only cause a slowdown in Asia, rather than an "outright contraction."