Indian women earn 25 per cent less than men

The ‘Monster Salary Index’ (MSI) report on gender pay parity was released in a survey titled ‘Women of India Inc’ by online career and recruitment solutions providers Monster India. Despite initiatives on equal pay, 62.4 per cent women feel that their male counterparts get more promotion opportunities. 

The overall gender pay gap in 2016 amounts to 25 per cent - a 2 percentage points drop from the 27 per cent gap in 2015, the survey noted. “In India, the gender pay gap story holds true and the overall gap across India Inc is at 25 per cent. This primarily is a manifestation of the underlying diversity  challenges that organisations currently face,” Sanjay Modi, MD (APAC and Middle-East) at Monster.com, said. 

Analysing different sectors, the survey revealed that the average gender pay gap in the ‘manufacturing sector’ stood at 29.9 per cent - an improvement of five percentage points from 2015 and the highest in India. This was followed by a 25.8 per cent pay gap in the information technology (IT) sector. 

While the gender pay gap in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector was at 21.5 per cent, the education and research sector the average gender pay gap stood at 14.7 per cent. Furthermore, nearly 68.5 per cent women of India Inc feel that gender parity still a concern and the management needs to step up and implement pragmatic policies to bridge the gap. 

“There is a dire need for tangible initiatives to bridge this pay gap with removing structural impediments to women’s growth providing access to skills training, jobs and decision-making,” Modi added. The survey was conducted on Monster India’s database from responses over 2000 working women from Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru.