Wipro hikes pay of India staff by 9.5%

Average salary increase for staff at client locations would be 2%

Wipro, India's third largest software exporter, said it would raise salaries by an average 9.5 per cent for its Indian employees effective June, bettering Infosys and falling a bit short of Tata Consultancy Services.

The company said the average salary increase for its staff working client locations would be two per cent.

"The average salary hike will be 9.5 per cent for offshore employees and two per cent for onsite employees," said Saurabh Govil, chief human resources officer, Wipro, in a statement.

In April, Infosys said the average salary increase for its offshore employees would be 6-12 per cent (average nine per cent), while TCS hiked salaries of its offshore employees by 8-10 per cent (average 10 per cent). Infosys also announced an average pay hike of one per cent for onsite employees, or those in client locations in the US and Europe.

Wipro employs about 150,000 people, the majority of them in offshore locations like India. About 350,000 people are employed by TCS. Infosys' headcount rose to 194,044 at the end of 2015-16.

In April, Infosys also offered employee stock options to managers in an effort to contain attrition in a highly competitive market.

More than half of the overall costs of information technology services companies go towards employee compensation.