When ICICI Bank announced in April that it would skip annual rituals like promotions or large-scale bonus payouts this year, there was a general sense of disbelief.
After all, India's largest private sector bank was going against the conventional wisdom that the Great Indian Salary Boom will continue despite the slowdown signals. The general consensus was that ICICI Bank was being foolish as the talent shortage and emergence of new job opportunities will ensure an exodus from the bank.
The bank's move also went against the projections of all leading global consultancies that Indian employees will bag the biggest global salary increase this year, at an average of 15 per cent.
ICICI Bank, however, went ahead and gave a moderate 8 per cent increase in salaries (11 per cent last year), skipped promotions and slashed bonus payouts. Three months later, Ram Kumar, ICICI's group head of human resources, says the bank's attrition rate hasn't gone up