NEW DELHI: Employees in India are expected to get an average salary hike of 9.6 per cent this financial year, while key talent are likely to get as much as 14.7 per cent, says a report."Salary hikes for financial year 2018-19 are expected to be in single digits at an industry average of 9.6 per cent, based on data from over 270 organisations across 18 sectors who participated in our Annual Compensation Trends Survey 2018-19," said Vishalli Dongri , Partner & Head, People & Change Advisory Services, KPMG in India.In financial year 2017-18, the average projected increment for the year 2017-18, was 9.7 per cent, while the actual hike stood at 9.4 per cent.The report further noted that as many as 19.9 per cent of participants saw attractive benefit offerings as one of the top three levers for drawing talent.Moreover, almost 75 per cent of organisations identify high potential employees and may offer them an average hike of 14.7 per cent, the report noted."Organisations across sectors have stated that one of their top HR priorities for this year is re-looking at their performance management system framework to create a sharper focus on a pay differentiation for high performers," Dongri said.The average variable pay projection has increased from 15.4 per cent in 2017-18 to 15.7 per cent in 2018-19, indicating that organisations are continuing to move towards paying for performance.The highest variable pay as a per cent of CTC is reported by the financial services sector and the lowest by NGO sector.The report offers insights into a variety of compensation trends and offers readers an important reference point on diverse aspects such as increments, benefits, employee attrition and how they are shaping up HR trends for 2018.This year's survey analyses and brings together findings from over 272 companies across 18 key sectors.