Understanding Your Appraisal Cycle: When and How Increments Actually Happen

The rating lands, the increment percentage shows up weeks or months later, and somewhere in between there's a genuine mystery for most employees about how any of it actually got decided. Understanding the appraisal cycle india when do increments happen question requires looking past your own single experience to what's actually documented across major Indian employers and the broader annual compensation surveys that track this every year.

Appraisal Cycle India When Do Increments Happen: The Broad Pattern

There's no single national standard for exactly when Indian companies process increments, but a clear seasonal pattern does show up across major employers. Infosys, for instance, runs an October-to-September annual review cycle, with self-assessments beginning around mid-October and ratings typically shared by January — though actual increment letters have historically followed considerably later, sometimes not landing until around June. TCS has generally anchored its own cycle to an April announcement window, though its 2025 cycle was notably delayed, with hikes for its largest employee band rolling out only from September 2025 onward. This spread between when a rating is decided and when the actual increment reaches your salary is one of the most consistently underappreciated parts of how appraisal cycle months india it companies operate — the review and the payout are rarely the same month.

How Is Annual Increment Percentage Decided?

Answering how is annual increment percentage decided honestly requires separating two layers: an overall company-wide increment budget, set based on business performance, industry benchmarking, and inflation considerations, and an individual multiplier applied within that budget based on your specific performance rating. Aon's Annual Salary Increase and Turnover Survey, a long-running study covering more than 1,400 companies across roughly 45 industries, showed India's average annual increment at 9.3% in 2024, projected at 9.2% for 2025 and 9.1% for 2026 — down from a notably higher 10.6% in 2022. Deloitte India's Talent Outlook reports a closely aligned figure: 9.0% actual for 2025 and 9.1% projected for 2026. Both are legitimate, independently run, named annual surveys, and the fact that they land within a fraction of a percentage point of each other is a reasonably strong signal that ~9% is a genuinely representative figure for the current Indian market overall, even though any individual company or employee's actual number will vary around that average.

A Strong Rating That Still Produced a Disappointing Number

This is one of the more genuinely frustrating experiences, and there are a few real, documented reasons behind why did i get low increment despite good rating situations beyond simple unfairness. Deloitte's Talent Outlook data shows the share of employees receiving top ratings actually fell from 10% in 2024 to 7% in 2025, meaning ratings distributions have been tightening even as promotion rates rose from 12% to 14% over the same period — a company-wide budget constraint can mean even a genuinely strong individual rating gets a smaller increment than in a looser budget year. Your position within your role's salary band matters too: a compa-ratio salary band concept, defined by HR analytics firm AIHR as your actual salary divided by your role's salary range midpoint, is commonly used by companies to calibrate increases — someone already near or above the midpoint of their band often receives a proportionally smaller increase than someone further below it, even with an identical performance rating, since the company is managing overall band alignment across its workforce, not just individual reward.

What Determines the Salary Hike Percentage Benchmark for Your Role?

Multiple factors feed into where your specific number lands relative to the broader national average. Sector matters significantly — Aon's 2025 industry breakdown showed Automotive and Engineering Design both around 10.2%, NBFCs at 10.0%, and Retail at 9.8%, against Banking at 8.8% and Tech Consulting at just 7.7%, the lowest of the industries tracked. Your own salary hike percentage benchmark is realistically some combination of your sector's typical range, your company's specific budget that cycle, your individual performance rating, and your compa-ratio position within your band — which is exactly why comparing your number to a single national average, without adjusting for these factors, tends to be a misleading exercise.

Promotion Cycle Timing: Does It Follow the Same Calendar as Increments?

Often yes, though not always in perfect lockstep — most large Indian companies bundle promotion cycle timing into the same broad review period as regular increments, since both draw on the same underlying performance-rating process, even when the actual promotion announcement or effective date lands slightly later than the increment letter itself. Deloitte's data on rising promotion rates, from 12% in 2024 to 14% in 2025, suggests companies have been leaning somewhat more on promotions as a lever during a period of tighter increment budgets — worth keeping in mind if your own increment felt modest but a promotion conversation is also actively happening.

What Happens During the Mid-Year Review Process?

A formal mid-year review process exists at many larger companies as a checkpoint separate from the annual cycle — typically a lighter-weight conversation focused on goal progress and course-correction rather than a formal rating or increment decision. It's genuinely useful preparation for the annual cycle regardless of its own weight, since documented mid-year feedback and goal adjustments become useful reference material when the full annual review eventually happens, particularly if you're trying to make a case for a specific rating or increment later. Smaller companies and startups often skip a formal mid-year checkpoint entirely, relying instead on more frequent informal one-on-ones with a manager — which makes it worth proactively asking for something in writing periodically if your own company doesn't run a structured mid-year process, simply so you have your own record to reference later.

How to Ask for Increment During Appraisal Without Overstepping

Knowing how to ask for increment during appraisal conversations effectively means coming prepared with specific, documented accomplishments tied to your actual goals for the period, rather than a general request framed around cost of living or tenure alone. Referencing your understanding of your compa-ratio position, if you have access to your band information, or citing sector benchmarks like Aon's or Deloitte's figures for your specific industry, can help frame a request as informed rather than simply hopeful — though it's worth keeping the tone collaborative rather than demanding, since the actual increment decision typically sits within a budget your manager doesn't fully control alone.

Does Switching Companies Actually Get a Bigger Hike Than Staying?

This is a widely repeated assumption, and while the underlying logic makes sense, it's worth being precise about what's actually documented versus what circulates as unsourced claims. The foundit (formerly Monster India) Appraisal Trends Report for FY24-25 found that 74% of employees received some increment, but only 32% felt it met their expectations, and — more strikingly — 86% of Indian professionals said they intended to switch jobs regardless of the increment they'd actually received, a figure reiterated in a separate large-scale survey covered by The Federal in September 2025. What this data doesn't give is a precise, named "switchers earn X% versus stayers earn Y%" figure from a top-tier survey like Aon or Deloitte — some secondary sources circulate specific numbers here, but without a clearly named primary source behind them, so it's more accurate to say the intent-to-switch behaviour is well documented even though a precise average pay-jump comparison isn't reliably sourced.

Which Sectors See the Lowest or No-Hike Outcomes?

The foundit report's sector breakdown is genuinely specific here: Advertising and Media showed the highest share of employees receiving no hike at all, at 41%, followed by Education at 33%, IT at 32%, and BPO/ITES at 31%. This tracks reasonably closely with Aon's own separate finding that Tech Consulting had the lowest average increment percentage among the industries it tracked for 2025, suggesting a genuinely consistent pattern of tighter increment outcomes across technology-adjacent and services sectors during this particular period.

Understanding Your Company's Performance Rating Scale

Most large Indian employers use some version of a forced or guided distribution across a performance rating scale — commonly a five-point system running from something like "exceptional" down to "needs improvement," though the exact labels and number of tiers vary considerably by company. Deloitte's data on the shrinking share of top ratings, from 10% in 2024 to 7% in 2025, is a useful reminder that these scales don't operate in a vacuum: even where your own manager rates you highly on their private assessment, a calibration process across teams and departments can adjust the final distributed rating to fit the company's overall budget and targets for that cycle, which is part of why two employees with seemingly similar performance can end up with different final ratings once calibration is applied.

What Should You Actually Do If This Year's Cycle Disappointed You?

Beyond raising it directly with your manager, it's worth requesting specific, written feedback on what separated your outcome from a higher rating or increment tier, rather than accepting a vague explanation. If the answer genuinely comes down to a compa-ratio or budget constraint rather than anything about your actual performance, that's useful information in itself — it suggests the ceiling for this cycle was structural rather than something you could have changed, and it's reasonable to ask your manager directly what a stronger outcome would realistically require in the next cycle, so you're not walking into the following year's review with the same ambiguity.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. When do most Indian IT companies process appraisals?
It varies by company — Infosys runs an October-to-September cycle with ratings by January, while TCS has typically anchored around an April window, though both cycles have seen delays in recent years.

2. What is a compa-ratio and why does it affect my increment?
It's your actual salary divided by your role's salary range midpoint — companies use it to calibrate increases, often giving smaller raises to employees already near or above their band's midpoint.

3. What is India's average annual increment right now?
Roughly 9%, based on both Aon (9.2% for 2025, 9.1% projected for 2026) and Deloitte (9.0% for 2025, 9.1% projected for 2026), down from around 10.6% in 2022.

4. Why might I get a low increment despite a good rating?
Company-wide budget constraints and your compa-ratio position within your salary band can both reduce an increase even when your individual rating is strong.

5. Do promotions follow the same timing as regular increments?
Often yes, since both typically draw on the same annual review process, though the promotion's effective date can land slightly later.

6. Is it true that switching jobs always gets a bigger hike than staying?
The underlying intent to switch is well documented, but a precise, reliably sourced "switchers vs stayers" percentage comparison isn't available from a named primary survey.

7. Which sectors have the highest rates of employees getting no hike at all?
Advertising and Media led at 41%, followed by Education, IT, and BPO/ITES, per the foundit Appraisal Trends Report FY24-25.

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Sources: Aon — Annual Salary Increase and Turnover Survey, India, Deloitte India — Talent Outlook Report, foundit (Monster India) — Appraisal Trends Report FY24-25.