India Inc to see 6-12% hikes this yr: study
ward?
We’ve offered broad-level guidance for the year, and at this point I’d want to stick to just that instead of giving further directional indications.
Is there stress in terms of billing projects and executing them, given the cautious commentary for FY25?
Client caution depends on the type of programmes (that we’re executing). Efficiency-led programmes have higher competitive intensity, but for any project involved in transformation, customers value capability.
Our pricing and execution of projects are dependent on the level of domain knowledge and capability that we bring to the table. It’s difficult to have a single answer for all projects.
Can you influence clients in spending on larger discretionary tech projects?
Fewer discretionary deals are what we have assumed in our planning and guidance.
At the end of the day, it’ll depend on how clients will prioritize tech programmes… This will be business-driven prioritization.
As service providers, I’m not sure if we can influence that.
Despite some optimism, your revenue growth guidance for FY25 is the lowest in three years. Could FY25 be even trickier than the previous two financial years?
We’re assuming that a similar macroeconomic environment will continue, and didn’t want to take a call on when the environment will rebound. Our guidance for revenue growth is still among the highest in the industry, despite taking all factors in.
You’re the only one among the top four IT firms to have added net headcount through FY24. And you’ve spoken of hiring 10,000 freshers in FY25. Any specific hiring areas?
Yes. There are lots of new programmes we have on data analytics, SAP tools and cybersecurity—we’ll continue to hire experienced talent in these domains. Outside of this, we’ll largely hire fresh talent, who will fuel our internal training programmes and work on key growth areas.
Ahighly competitive job market where companies are looking for specialists is likely to push many employers to offer an estimated 9-12% increments this year.
According to the Mint+Shine Talent Insights report, 34% of the human resource (HR) executives surveyed said they expected a hike of that range, possibly targeted to boost employee morale and prevent them from changing loyalties.
More than 3,000 HR executives and jobseekers were surveyed during the quarterly study conducted during the January-March period. Around 49% of the recruiters expressed a positive sentiment about the upcoming appraisal cycle.
Another sizeable segment of recruiters, roughly 25%, is planning more moderate raises of 6-8%. This aligns with the rising cost of living and acknowledges the value of experienced staff who contribute to the company’s success,
About a quarter of the HR executives surveyed expect to hand out increments in excess of 12% this year. 24.6 >12% hik 33.5 9-12%
14.2 3-5%
5.4 -8% the report said.
Among jobseekers, around 24% of those surveyed said they expected a 10-15% salary hike, while another 24% expected a more than 20% hike. This shows jobseekers and employees were hopeful of even bigger hikes than employers expect to give this year.
The proposed increments follow a drastic slowdown in hiring over the past year by India Inc. During 2021 and early 2022, firms across sectors hired at a breakneck speed to transform their traditional businesses into digital ones. But since the second half of 2022, macroeconomic sluggishness, geopolitical tensions and private equity firms dialling down their investments had impacted the IT, startup and retail industries.
Some profiles are expected to get better hikes given their demand.
“Over the past few years, many sectors have seen a trend towards more substantial increments for tech and digital roles, while traditional roles may see steadier, moderate increases. The increments would follow a similar pattern as the previous year,” said Ruchira Bhardwaja, chief human resources officer at Kotak Life.
According to the Mint+Shine study, just 2% of the recruiters anticipate minimal raises of 0-2%. This comes on the back of economic challenges faced in certain industries and budget constraints limiting their ability to offer better increments.
However,evenwithstringent budgets, companies are ensuring that the top performers get a prominently higher raise and that can go as much as 1.7-1.8 times the average increment.
Companies like Tata Steel made changes in their appraisal process and organizational bands to offer more opportunities to their top performers.
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Our guidance for revenue growth is still among the highest in the industry, despite taking all factors in. C. Vijayakumar MD and CEO, HCL Technologies