Indian women earn 25% less than men

It dropped 2% from the 27% gap in 2015

Gender continues to be a significant parameter in determining salaries, as men earned a median gross hourly salary of Rs 345.8, whereas women earned Rs 259.8, a survey has showed.

The overall gender pay gap across India in 2016 amounted to 25 per cent — a two per cent drop from the 27 per cent gap in 2015, noted the Monster Salary Index on gender, released by online career and recruitment solution provider Monster India.

"In India, the gender pay gap story holds true and the overall gap across India Inc is at 25 per cent. This primarily is a manifestation of the underlying diversity challenges that organisations currently face," Sanjay Modi, Managing Director (Asia-Pacific and Middle-East) at Monster.com, said in a statement on Monday.

Analysing different sectors, the survey revealed that the average gender pay gap in the manufacturing sector stood at 29.9 per cent — an improvement of five per cent from 2015 and the highest in India.

This was followed by a 25.8 per cent pay gap in the information technology (IT) sector.

While the gender pay gap in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector was at 21.5 per cent, the education and research sector the average gender pay gap stood at 14.7 per cent.

"There is a dire need for tangible initiatives to bridge this pay gap with removing structural impediments to women's growth providing access to skills training, jobs and decision-making," Modi added.

The report provides a comparison of wage and working conditions figures of 20,350 respondents from across India, approximately 85.02 per cent of which are men and 14.98 per cent women, for three periods covering from January 2014 to December 2016.