While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact hiring and recruitment trends across India, sustained demand for skilled talent is expected from the healthcare and technology sectors that have surged to the forefront over the last year.

These are some of the findings from RGF International Recruitment's Salary Watch 2021: India, an annual report conducted with the aim of better understanding salary trends across all industries and job levels in India. The report presents a comprehensive analysis of salary data collected on more than 19,000  candidates in India and provides projections and benchmarking to help employers and employees make informed decisions on compensation.

According to the report, the boost in demand for healthcare services and pharmaceutical production has spurred a rise in compensation for talent with experience in regulatory affairs (increments up to 8%), medical areas (7%) and production & operations (7%). Senior personnel and R&D talent across industries are also expected to see higher increments (7%), corresponding with the urgent need for experienced professionals with the skills to provide overall direction in this time of change.

The pandemic has also led businesses across sectors to consider digital strategies to cope with challenging conditions. From fintech to healthtech and ecommerce, companies of all sizes continue to undergo digital transformation to bring much-needed services to customers in need, such as payments, medicines, and groceries. Tech talent employed in roles like software development, artificial intelligence, robotics and data science are expected to command some of the highest salaries in the region, averaging between 50 and 80 lakh INR per annum and salary increments up to 40% when changing jobs.

"Hiring the right talent will play a crucial role in India's ability to not only tackle the current challenges of the pandemic, but also recover from them for the longer term. However, hiring competition is expected to intensify alongside recovery, which means that employers in vital industries like technology and healthcare must either hire proactively or be prepared to offer higher compensation packages for the right talent. For the longer term, companies must also focus on upskilling their talent to build up valuable long-term capabilities that can help future-proof their operations against any crises to come," said Sachin Kulshrestha, Managing Director, RGF Professional Recruitment India.

Please click here to download your copy of the Salary Watch 2021: India report.