Hiring, salaries in India to go up

New Delhi: In preparation for ‘achche din’ promised by the new government, India Inc has big plans for 2015 when it comes to hiring people and doling out pay hikes. On the platter for the job market, the companies are promising an estimated 3-5 lakh new jobs, an increase of 15-20 per cent in headcount and average pay hike of 10-12 per cent that can go up to 30 per cent for certain roles and sectors.

These ambitious plans, which experts mostly attribute to an upsurge in business sentiments since the new government took over, would make 2015 a much better year for the job market than 2014.

According to various HR firms and job consultancy organisations, Indian companies recorded an average hiring growth of 10-12 per cent in 2014, while salary hikes stood at about 8-10 per cent. With economy showing signs of an upturn and positivity continuing in the business sentiment, experts believe that the hiring activities should get only better and the firms would dole out double-digit salary hike to attract the right talent.

The job market may get a further boost if foreign firms come to set shop here after certain sectors are opened up for further overseas investments. According to the global human resource solution provider, Aon Hewitt, the average salary increase for 2014 stood at 10 per cent, with a range of 8.8 to 12 per cent across industries.

While hiring growth is expected to be robust across the sectors, IT, healthcare and pharma, manufacturing, engineering and retail could be the primary drivers of hiring followed by telecom, FMCG and financial services, Team-Lease Services’ senior VP Kunal Sen said.