India Poised For 9.5% Salary Hike In 2025: Aon Study

Aon plc, a global professional services firm, has announced the findings from the first phase of the 30^th Annual Salary Increase and Turnover Survey 2024-25. The study, the largest and most comprehensive rewards survey in India, analysed data across 1,176 companies from over 40 industries between July and August 2024.

Phase one of the study shares the current year’s actual increase and gives an early indication of the salary increase to be expected in 2025. This phase of the study revealed that salaries in India are projected to increase by 9.5 per cent in 2025, compared to an actual increase of 9.3 per cent in 2024.  Phase two of the study will include data collected in December and January and will be published early 2025.

Looking ahead to 2025, salaries across industries in India continue to vary. The engineering and manufacturing and retail industries project double-digit increases at 10 per cent, closely followed by financial institutions at 9.9 per cent indicating the strategic importance employers place on talent in these sectors in the current economic landscape.

Although the year started on a cautious note for the technology sector, the sentiment is optimistic as we enter 2025. Global capability centres and technology products and platforms expect a more optimistic salary increase at 9.9 per cent and 9.3 per cent, respectively, while the technology consulting and services projected increments at a lower end of 8.1 per cent.

Roopank Chaudhary, partner and head of reward solutions in India for Aon, said, “Despite evolving global economic challenges, our study indicates a positive business outlook across several sectors in India. This sentiment continues in many of the domestically driven sectors illustrated by the projected increments in the manufacturing, life sciences and retail industries. Organizations committed to retaining talent in a competitive job market must keep abreast of changing market data and understand the rapidly evolving compensation trends. Having a holistic rewards strategy based on data and analytics will ensure organisations attract and retain the right talent and continue to build a resilient workforce.”

Looking at the attrition analysis, a downward trend is apparent with attrition reported at 16.9 per cent on average this year, compared to 18.7 per cent reported in 2023 and 21.4 per cent reported in 2022.