By all counts 2012 is expected to be a better year for India Inc compared to 2011, specially since the Reserve Bank is expected to start lowering interest rates, and inflation is expected to be lower. But strangely, salary-wise, employees’ pay packets could be slightly less than last year’s 12.6 per cent, though at an average of 11.9 per cent they would still be the highest in the Asia-Pacific region for the 10th year running.

This applies to junior and mid-level managers too, so those who think India Inc’s bosses are tightfisted, think again! But then averages rarely give a true picture: the hikes in the pharma sector, for instance, will be 13.3 per cent; while in financial institutions it will be just 10 per cent.

This is one of the very few areas where India is on top, and China second, followed by the Philippines, with salary hikes of at 9.5 per cent and 6.9 per cent respectively. This too could be one reason why some smaller IT companies are shutting shop in cities like Hyderabad and going to the Philippines, where salaries are lower. A popular job portal has pegged salaries to be even higher next year, by 20 per cent, though generally it should be between 10-15 per cent.

Given the average much-to-be-desired quality of the so-called demographic dividend, the talented might see salaries rise the most, by 15.1 per cent, as employers struggle to retain them from poachers, particularly multinationals with deep pockets.