India Inc wages and salaries grew 12.6% in Q1; hints of a hiring uptick

Non-bank retail lenders such as Bajaj Finance, Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), Indiabulls Housing and Shriram Transport Finance topped the chart with 27.6 per cent YoY growth

After a lull of nearly three years, corporate India seems to be back on a hiring spree. The combined salary and wages bill for listed companies was up 12.6 per cent year-on-year (YoY) during the April-June quarter, growing at the fastest pace in nearly four years. In comparison, the salary bill was up 8.7 per cent last financial year, and 10 per cent in 2016-17.

The buoyancy in salary and wages is, however, muted compared to other cost heads and overall growth in these companies’ top line. For example, the companies’ combined revenues grew 16.3 per cent during the first