Tech firms may hike remuneration up to 120% as demand grows: report

2021 introduced a new era in technology with the fleshing-out of the metaverse as well as advances in automation, cloud computing and data security. This has in then driven Indian tech firms to value niche talents and driving overall hikes in pay to a predicted 120%, a report in the Economic Times claims.

The need to hire new talent as well as maintaining existing manpower is what is driving the new valuation, as per TET. People in high demand include full-stack engineers, data scientists, data engineers and backend engineers, according to recruitment consultancy firm Xpheno. The firm also said that the demand would likely drive up entry-level wages which were traditionally low in the Indian market.

Startups that have raised funds over the last few months are expected to roll out the highest offers and counter offers, ranging from 50-120% depending on the role, according to the report. IT services companies and GCCs, on the other hand, are likely to unveil relatively modest offers in the range of 5-14% for the same skills.

Xpheno co-founder Kamal Karanth was quoted as predicting that demand for tech talent would extend into 2022 until companies could create their own organic talent pool and upskill existing workers. Right now, the power to negotiate was in the applicants hands as demand was high, he said.

The report quoted the Digital Employment Outlook Report as predicting the increase in demand mainly for digital skills as the Indin IT industry noted increased public spending on digital technology, which began with the pandemic.

Increased investments in areas like Artificial Intelligence, Cloud, security, and engineering will be among the top technology drivers for 2022, said Vijay Sivaram, CEO of Quess IT Staffing. He also said that for companies to switch to more long-term roles, they would have to provide better workplaces that were rich in opportunities and motivating the workforce while also understanding their needs.