India leads salary rise index in Asia

Navnit Singh, Chairman and Regional MD, Korn Ferry India said, “India has posted a strong growth despite real wages taking a hit globally. With current economic scenario and progressive reforms by the government, there is a sense of cautious optimism across sectors in India that continues to show high salary increments. We recommend organisations to re-examine their talent strategies and remuneration and reward policies, considering the rising cost of living, leading to a marginal real wage increase.”

“India’s projected average salary increment has seen an average growth of 9.2% for 2020 and with low inflation, the real wage increased at 5.1%, which is amongst the highest globally,” Roopank Chaudhary, Associate Client Partner – Korn Ferry India, said.

“The salaries in India continue to grow but not evenly. What has changed is the play within – from tighter increment grids to stretched increment percentages and significant differentiation between high performers and average performers. In line with slower and lower increments across the board, companies will continue to differentiate their top performers, high potentials and critical talent sharply. Given the increasing cost pressures on the businesses, fixed salary sees a slow growth whereas high performers will continue to see a steady growth in Total Remuneration including performance incentives (short and long term),” he added.

According to the forecast, salaries are predicted to grow at a rate of approximately 4.9% globally in 2020. With a global inflation rate prediction of approximately 2.8%, the real-wage salary increase prediction at 2.1%. The highest real wage growth is expected in Asia, with salaries forecast to grow by 5.3% in 2020 and real-wage salaries are expected to be 3.1%, with an inflation rate of 2.2%.

Across Asian countries, Indonesia is forecast to have a salary growth of 8.1%, whereas, Malaysia, China and Korea are expected to have a salary growth of 5%, 6% and 4.1% respectively. The lowest salary growth is expected in Japan and Taiwan at 2% and 3.9% respectively.