Cost of top management lower in India

Labour costs for senior executives and top management is lower in India. At senior level, executive pay in China is more than twice of that in India ($94k), according to a research by Towers Watson.

"The large influx of Indian returnees following the global financial crisis helped India to get more CEO talent," said Clare Muhiudeen, managing director, talent & rewards, Asia Pacific at Towers Watson. But with higher rates of inflation in India than in China, this gap is set to narrow.

However, there is huge disparity at the entry level and executive level. In people-intensive sectors like technology and retail, the entry level wages are stagnant. Adjusted for inflation, they may actually be reducing every year.

The pay differentials across the spectrum of job levels reflect workforce imbalances and pressure for talent in the Asia Pacific region. The report shows a widening disparity in pay levels particularly between the middle management and CEO in 13 of the Asia Pacific's key developed and developing economies. At the lower end of the job level, Asia Pacific's developed economies predictably have the highest pay levels. Australia entry pay level is eight to 11 times more than China, the Philippines and Indonesia, and 15 times that of Vietnam. Australia also pays higher than Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong through to middle management, after which the gap narrows.