business

Updated: Aug 03, 2017 17:27 IST

The manufacturing sector is the lowest paid in India, with a median gross salary of just Rs 211.7 per hour.

According to the Monster Salary Index (MSI) released by employment website Monster India for 2016, there has been a 16% fall in salary levels – from Rs 251.9 per hour in 2014 to Rs 252.1 in 2015 and Rs 211.7 in 2016 – despite the government providing a major push to the manufacturing sector and making consistent attempts at establishing inclusive economic growth.

The MSI also brought a number of revelations to the fore. For instance, it found that employees in the manufacturing sector with a degree in secondary education earn Rs 101.4 per hour while those with a post-graduate degree make Rs 270.8, constituting a gap of 62.6%. The gender pay gap hovered around 29.9%, with male employees earning an average of Rs 256.6 per hour as opposed to their female counterparts getting a lowly Rs 179.8.

Wholly or partially foreign-owned owned companies were found to be paying double that of domestic companies, at Rs 349.7 per hour. The MSI also noted that employees at supervisory positions in the manufacturing sector make as much as 34.7% more than their subordinates.

The highest median gross hourly salary in 2016 was registered by the banking, financial and insurance sectors at Rs 433 per hour. Next in line was the IT sector, at Rs 386.8, followed by healthcare, caring services and social work sectors at Rs 242.5. The median gross salary in the education sector was Rs 204.1 the previous year.

Sanjay Modi, Monster.com managing director (APAC & Middle East), termed the manufacturing sector as the backbone of a mature economy because it fuels growth, productivity and employment, and strengthens the agriculture as well as the service sectors. “In India, the manufacturing output contributes about 16% to the overall Gross Domestic Product and employs nearly 12-13% of the labour force. However, despite being so significant for the Indian economy, the sector remains the lowest paid at Rs 211.7 per hour,” he said.

Modi acknowledged that the government has unveiled a slew of initiatives – such as ease of doing business, relaxed FDI investment rules and infrastructural development – to achieve its ambitious target of enhancing the manufacturing sector’s GDP contribution to 25% by 2025. However, he also noted that there was a yawning gap between potential opportunities and actual breakthroughs that was yet to be filled.

“Manufacturing is typically a labour-intensive sector. However, owing to automation and technological advances, the key focus in the coming years will be on relevant skills and capabilities. Hence, if India wants to fulfill its ambition of becoming a manufacturing powerhouse, there is an immediate need to marry human skills with automation,” said Modi.

He also said the focus should now be on re-skilling, upskilling, building relevant capabilities and creating jobs for 10 million young people who enter the job market every year.

Monster India has released the MSI in collaboration with Paycheck.in and IIM-Ahmedabad. The current analysis spans over three years, from January 2014 to December 2016, and covers eight different sectors ranging from information technology to manufacturing and healthcare.