Indian salaries to rise by 10.8 percent in 2016: Towers Watson

Global professional services company Towers Watson on Thursday forecast an overall salary increase of 10.8 percent for Indian companies in 2016.

According to Towers Watson '2015-16 Asia-Pacific Salary Budget Planning Report', net salary increase in 2016 is expected to be marginally higher at 4.7 percent against 4.5 percent in 2015 by factoring inflation at 6.1 percent.

"Determining current pay rates for jobs in a highly competitive talent market is akin to shooting at a moving target. if managers don't keep an eye on the market, they could risk losing valuable talent to the competition," said Sambhav Rakyan, data services practice leader, Asia Pacific, Towers Watson in a statement.

The report projected a pay hike of 10.70 percent (rise of 0.70 percent year-on-year) in 2016 for high tech industry, 11.50 percent for energy sector (0.50 percent), 10.90 percent for pharmaceutical and health sciences (0.50 percent) and 10.40 percent for financial services (0.40 percent).

However, Towers Watson highlighted that the higher overall salary increase is despite the fact that employers are less upbeat on business outlook for India in third quarter than in the first quarter, with the positive outlook having slumped to 41 percent from 58 percent.

For Asia Pacific region, the company forecast a salary budget rise of 6.8 percent for 2016 from 6.6 percent in 2015.

With 16,000 associates across the world, NASDAQ listed Towers Watson offers consulting, technology and solutions in the areas of talent management, rewards, risk and capital management.