Wipro offers pay hikes, promotions

In what could be the first signs of a turnaround in the IT sector, Wipro, India’s third-largest software exporter by sales, has lifted the

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freeze on promotions and hikes on a selective basis.

Wipro’s senior vice-president-HR Saurabh Govil confirmed the development and said the company continues to invest in leadership talent and recognise them, even if on a selected basis. The company did not give details about the percentage of employees who got promoted or the range of these promotion-linked hikes.

“We do not work on any percentages. Employees meeting the promotion criteria get promoted. Those promoted get standard promotion-linked increases. This happens across all levels in the organisation,” Mr Govil said in an e-mail response.

IT industry officials said a standard promotion-linked hike could hover anywhere between 8% and 15%, depending on the level that the employee comes under. A senior industry official, who did not wish to be named, said: “In Wipro, the employees getting promotions include some people who missed it in the October cycle last year as well as those handling key customer accounts. It’s been happening in a phased manner over the past few months.”

Worries for the IT industry became starkly visible last year when they started layoffs and salary cuts, in an effort to rein in costs in an increasingly deteriorating environment. But now, news of promotions, even if on a selective basis, points to higher confidence levels.

Among top five IT players, Cognizant sent a mail to all its employees, a couple of months ago, stating that it has kicked off an appraisal process to promote and hike salaries across levels in the organisation. At the same time, TCS’ global HR head Ajoy Mukherjee told analysts in the July quarter earnings call that the company will be going ahead with promotions this year.

“It does signal return of semi-good times, organisations are more optimistic. And the fact that companies are going public in their appraisal or hiring plans indicates that the worst is over,” said Gartner India’s principal research analyst Diptarup Chakraborti.

Experts also see the beginning of a trend here. Ashok Reddy, managing partner and co-founder of staffing company Teamlease said: “Variable portion of pay is already there in most IT companies. Overall, the market is positive and as sentiments improve, there will be pressure on companies to increase salaries.”


However, Mr Chakraborti said that unless there is a real recovery in the US economy, real recovery isn’t likely to happen for Indian IT. Also, the real signs of rebound will become visible when IT companies give salary increases across the board and start recruiting in large numbers like before. Wipro's Govil said, “There is no increase being contemplated on a broad-based basis. Our hiring as in the past will be tied to the business environment.”