Employee turnover in India accelerated sharply in 2026, with overall attrition rising to 18% up from 16.2% in 2025 and 17.1% in 2024 according to Aon's 33rd Annual Salary Increase and Turnover Survey for India 2026-27, which analysed data from more than 1,200 organisations across 45 industries.
The reversal breaks two consecutive years of improvement. Aon attributes the rise to intensifying competition for workers with specialist skills, particularly as enterprise adoption of artificial intelligence tools reaches 56% of Indian companies. Roles in AI, machine learning and data science now command a pay premium of roughly 10%, the survey found.
Involuntary attrition exits initiated by employers also climbed, reaching 4% in 2026 from 3.4% the previous year, adding a second layer of complexity to workforce planning.
On pay, Indian companies are projected to raise salaries by an average of 9.1% in 2027, fractionally above the 9% actual increase recorded in 2026. The headline figure masks wide sectoral variation: NBFCs lead at a projected 10.1%, followed by energy at 9.9% and real estate and infrastructure at 9.8%, while technology services lag at 6.6%.
Employers are responding to the attrition uptick by targeting salary increases at hard-to-fill roles rather than spreading budgets evenly. The survey also flags the forthcoming Wage Code as an additional cost variable, with Amit Kumar Otwani, Associate Partner at Aon's Talent Solutions India practice, noting that compliance alone would not be sufficient and that employers must assess the broader workforce and cost implications while communicating clearly with employees.
For workers, the data points to a market where specialist skills particularly in AI and data continue to attract premium compensation, while generalist roles face both tighter pay growth and rising employer-initiated exits.
Source : Aon press release
