Auto Inc puts pay hikes in top gear as profits surge

“With the excellent efforts of employees, Maruti Suzuki has performed well in FY23,” said Rajesh Uppal, member executive board, HR, Maruti Suzuki, which recorded the highest-ever turnover of ₹1 lakh crore. “Our sales of 19.66 lakh units were the highest ever… the company recognises the efforts of employees and shares the fruit of their good work with them,” Uppal told ET.

At the country’s largest carmaker, the average salary hike this year is 14-15%, including merit increase, market correction and promotion benefit. “This is higher than last year. Apart from this, we gave a bonus as per business performance of the previous financial year.”

Hyundai Motor India has increased salaries by 13-16%. “This hike is one of the best in the industry,” Charles JS Walter, the company’s AVP and vertical head-HR, told ET.

This year, Hyundai introduced a futuristic organisational structure in record time and rolled out a reimagined, role-based compensation and benefits model, Walter said.

At Hero MotoCorp, the increments this year have been higher than in the previous years, said its spokesperson. “Driving forward with a clear focus on performance, our annual compensation review process has delivered best-in-the-industry salary increments in FY23,” said the spokesperson.In FY23, passenger vehicle sales in the domestic market rose 27% from a year ago to a record 3.89 million units. Two-wheeler sales, too, increased in double-digits to 15.9 million.

At Tata Motors, appraisals are in line with the industry trend. Sources said the company has handed out increments as well as bonuses on a differentiated basis, linked to the performance of employees.

Tata Motors did not respond to ET’s query on increments.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is set to announce increments from August 2023. Sources said the hikes are likely to be on a par with that at other automakers.

According to a recent report by Deloitte, automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) talent got an average 10.2% salary increment in 2023. “This is the highest (hikes) in the manufacturing sector, surpassing even India Inc average increments of 9.1%,” said Neelesh Gupta, director, Deloitte India.