'India Inc pays low salaries to peons,clerks'

Corporates are poor paymasters when it comes to rewarding lower-level employees like peons and clerks, says a study commissioned by the Sixth Pay Commission.

The government pays better salaries to the lower categories of employees than the corporate sector, pointed out a study conducted by XLRI, Jamshedpur, for the Sixth Pay Commission, which recently submitted its report to Finance Minister P Chidambaram suggesting revision of pay scales for the central government employees.

"During the presentation before the commission, it emerged that the compensation provided by the government is higher at Group C and D levels," the report said.

In case of middle level (Group B) employees, the report said the compensation package offered by the private sector is only "marginally" higher than what is provided by the government.

The real difference, however, is in the case of higher-category Group A officers whose counterparts in comparable posts in the private sector get "substantially higher" compensation, the report said.

Reacting to the demand for market-linked salaries by various associations, the Pay Commission said: "The high starting salaries projected in the media and other reports are granted only to a minuscule number who are the best students of top-end management schools."

High salaries depend upon the demand for talent at that point of time and are not reflective of the industry average, the commission said, adding "Such episodic events should not be used as the yardstick for comparison as ultimately the higher salaries get normalised over time."