New Delhi, Mar 6 (IANS): The salary increment projections across most industries in 2019 would be 9.7 per cent, said a survey on Tuesday.

The 23rd edition of Aon's annual Salary Increase Survey projected a marginally higher pay hike while showing that India will continue to be a front-runner among the Asian economies in terms of pay raises.

Between 2001 and 2007, the services sector saw higher salary increases. But after 2008-09, the manufacturing sector gained the lead and has consistently given higher increments, the report said.

"But the divide has been smaller 2016 onwards and the margin between the two sectors has reduced considerably to under 1 per cent on an average," the report said.

The report noted the attrition rate has fallen steadily over the years (18.1 per cent to 15.8 per cent), while involuntary attrition has gone up, which is more prominent at the entry level.

"A deep dive into the reasons for increase in involuntary attrition highlights cost rationalisation as well as rising automation in certain kinds of jobs, specially in IT and manufacturing sectors," the report said.

It said top performers or critical talent continue to get lucrative hikes in the range of 1.7X-1.9X.

The firm also recommended organisations to carefully consider the cost of living while planning pay increases at the junior and entry levels and ensure that the top or the critical talent receives disproportionate share of the pie.

The survey analysed data from over 1,000 companies from more than 20 industries.