Most sectors in India have reached or are on their way to pre-pandemic normalcy in terms of salaries, reports The Economic Times, citing research from TeamLease Services. On the salary front, top sectors for pay for 2022 include ecommerce and tech startups, healthcare and allied industries, IT and knowledge services, which saw increments of more than 10%. Those at the lower end, with lesser than 10% salary growth, include agriculture and agrochemicals, automobile & allied, BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance), BPO and ITES (IT enabled services), construction & real estate, educational services, FMCD (fast-moving consumer durables), FMCG (fast moving consumer goods), hospitality, industrial manufacturing and allied, media and entertainment, power and energy, retail and telecom. Two functions that have benefited from the onslaught of the pandemic - sales and IT - are still going strong as they remain critical for the return to normalcy.

“Business sentiment is positive and the worst is over for the Indian labour market," said Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder, TeamLease. “Salary de-growth, which had taken centre stage across industries in the last two years, seems to be tapering off. Roles that are highly specialised are in unprecedented demand and are being rewarded more handsomely than ever, with increments in the category inching up from 11% to 12% this year.”