Wipro to roll out second salary hike of 2021 in Sept, Infosys in July

Wipro on Friday announced a salary hike for 80% of its workforce, announcing the second increment in employee pay following a year of record digital transformation deals in the information and technology (IT) industry.

The merit-based salary increases will begin from September 2021, as per a statement. 

Eligible employees are those picked from band B3 and below, which includes assistant managers and subordinates, the statement said. 

The reported category forms 80% of the company’s workforce, the statement added. The $8.5 billion company reported a total of 1,97,712 employees at the end of financial year 2020-21 (FY21). 

The Bengaluru based company had previously announced a salary hike in January 2021 for those eligible in the same employee group. 

Additionally, all eligible employees above band C1 (managers and above) will receive pay hikes effective June 1. On average, the increments will be in the high single digits for offshore employees while it will be in the mid-single digits for onsite employees, Wipro said. 

Bengaluru neighbour and competitor Infosys too hiked salaries for employees in January 2021. The second hike of the calendar year at Infosys is due next month, July. 

The Covid-19 pandemic hasn’t just been a money-spinner for India’s IT services companies, riding a wave of global demand for digital transformation projects. The rainmakers at these companies have also had a more than usual profitable year.   

Wipro spent Rs 33,237.1 crore (about $4.54 billion) towards overall employee compensation in FY21. This was up 1.8% from a year earlier. 

On a note on profitability, Wipro said in its annual 20-F report, “If we are not able to mitigate rising employee compensation costs by passing such increases to clients, or increase our revenues sufficiently to offset increasing costs, our results of operations could be adversely affected.” 

IT services companies have echoed similar concerns surrounding wage pressures with yearly increases in India salary trends, its impact over an otherwise advantage over United States or Europe based competitors, and ability to hire from such high-income geographies.