Intense Competition, Talent Crunch Push Companies to Hand Out 15-20% Pay Hikes
Indian employees have never had it so good. Intense competition and rising attrition levels are forcing companies to hand out 15-20% mid-term salary hikes. Reliance Industries, Marico and Dabur have offered mid-term increments and out-of-turn hikes of 15-20% to top performers in recent months. This is over and above the 15-20% salary hikes handed out during annual appraisals last year. This comes at a time when India Inc. is desperately trying to hold back talent, especially in telecom, IT, BPO and retail. A massive recruitment spree in sunrise sectors like BPO, telecom and retail has led to a demand-supply mismatch and mid-term hikes going up to 40%. Average attrition rates in IT have moved up to 22% from 18% and those in BPOs to 50% from 46%. In the manufacturing sector, talent exodus is averaging 8-12%. Several corporates are even offering bonuses and increments on a quarterly basis to top teams. An HR head said, “Although it is a short-term reaction, we have to react proactively to the market scenario and retain our performers. If one loses an employee, the average time taken for a new person to pick up the skills is up to six months, which is critical time lost for a company. Also, replacement costs like hiring consultants would in any case add up to a huge expense and a lot of pressure on HR,” said Dabur India HR chief. Company are identifying people who may be tempted to leave and are devising ways of retaining such talent – offering learning and development facilities for freshers, sending them abroad on one-year bonds (for six-months postings), etc
Which of the following sectors are considered as the sunrise sector in the above passage?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → BPO, Telecom and Retail
The passage speaks of a massive recruitment spree in sunrise sectors like BPO, telecom and retail. A sunrise sector is a new and fast-growing one. Hiring in these sectors was so heavy that the demand for skilled people ran ahead of the supply.
Note: The passage is the NCERT case study ‘Intense Competition, Talent Crunch Push Companies to Hand Out 15-20% Pay Hikes’, which has been reproduced by NTA in the exam. NCERT (2026-27 Edition): “Reliance Industries, Marico and Dabur have offered mid-term increments and out-of-turn hikes of 15-20% to top performers in recent months. This is over and above the 15-20% salary hikes handed out during annual appraisals last year. This comes at a time when India Inc. is desperately trying to hold back talent, especially in telecom, IT, BPO and retail.” “A massive recruitment spree in sunrise sectors like BPO, telecom and retail has led to a demand-supply mismatch and mid-term hikes going up to 40%. Average attrition rates in IT have moved up to 22% from 18% and those in BPOs to 50% from 46%. In the manufacturing sector, talent exodus is averaging 8-12%.” |