Mumbai, March 20: The Indian IT sector is projected to have muted hiring as it has a challenging year ahead. According to the reports, the IT sector in India has an estimated valuation of $250 billion, which may expect "stagnant" salary hikes in 2024. The IT employees expecting higher salary hikes should expect the average salary appraisals to range from 8.4% to 9%.

According to reports, Munira Loliwala, AVP of Strategy and Growth at TeamLease Digital, said that the average salary appraisal in 2024 for the IT sector is projected between 8.4% and 9%, which is a slight dip compared to the previous year. As per a report by Mint, TeamLease's report highlighted that the average increment in 2023 was 8.5% to 9.1%. It further mentioned that most of the IT companies may defer salary hikes until the end of Q1 of the fiscal year, thus breaking away from the traditional approach of implementing it in April month. Indian Workers With AI Skills Could Get Salary Hike of Over 54%, Workers Believe Artificial Intelligence Could Raise Efficiency by 66%: Report.

According to a report by Hindustan Times, last year, tech companies like HCLTech, Wipro, and Infosys skipped or deferred the increments by several months or selectively rolled them out based on employee tenure. A report also claimed that Infosys released less than 10% salary hikes from November.  

Other reports said that the Indian IT sector is the major employer in the country, and it is predicted to face stagnant salaries in 2024 due to the global challenges affecting the companies' operations. According to reports, the information technology sector in India is expected to see a slowdown in hiring. 

Munira Loliwala said that the focus of the Indian IT sector would be to maintain a stable workforce. She reportedly suggested that the industry might have flat or negative growth, considering the workforce headcounts. Munira Loliwala added that in December last year, many MNCs rolled out modest hikes for most roles, which were 7% on average. Indian SaaS Startups To Create 100 New AI Unicorns, Country's Trillion Dollar Industry To Be Reshaped by GenAI: Report.

As per the Mint's report, GGCs (Global Capability Centres) expected that MNCs operating in India would likely play a crucial role in hiring. With them, the average salary hikes would be around 10% to 10.1% in 2024. The report said that compared to the IT sector in India, the finance and baking sectors may see higher salary hikes averaging 11.1% this year.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 20, 2024 09:11 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).