India now 2nd best in salary hikes: Hewitt survey

India has slipped to the second position in terms of average salary hike annually, from the period beginning January 2007, according to the 8th annual Asia-Pacific Salary Increase Survey conducted by Hewitt Associates, a global human resources services company.

Sri Lanka has overtaken India by reporting the highest average salary increase at 15.3%. India reported an increase of 14.8%, which is slightly better than 14.4% in the 2006 survey.

The survey involved over 1,800 companies across 14 Asia-Pacific markets including Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and others.

Of the 262 companies surveyed in India, none of the respondents reported salaries to be stagnating or decreasing in 2007.

Moreover, none expected salaries to stagnate in 2008 as well and believed that it will further go up.

According to the survey, the average overall salary increase in India ranged from 11.7% to 16% with employees at junior manager or supervisory level receiving the highest average increase of 16%. Their salaries in 2008 are expected to rise again by 15.6%.

Nishchae Suri, head (talent and organisation consulting analytics practice Asia), Hewitt, said: "The pull is on the side of the people today. With more opportunities and avenues, organisations are increasingly at the mercy of employees making a choice. A salary increase is the most perceptible way of enhancing the employment deal but, of course, not the complete deal itself."

The Asia-Pacific region witnessed the highest salary increase in the world with Latin America closely following Asia.

Europe reported the third-highest salary increase globally with Hungary leading the region with an increase of 7.5%, the survey stated.