While this was no secret, India's software industry has now officially been declared the most lucrative sector in the country in a latest study conducted by Monster India. With a median gross salary of ₹341.8 per hour, the software industry has emerged as the top paymaster, followed by finance sector that pays ₹291 per hour.
Online career and recruitment solutions provider Monster India reported its findings in Monster Salary Index (MSI) which saw the IT employees record the highest hourly rate, followed by the financial sector.
The construction sector recorded ₹259 per hour, healthcare ₹215, manufacturing and transport 230.9, while education sector sat right at the bottom with ₹186.5 an hour.
While the education sector sees more women participation, sadly, they paid an average 18% lesser than their male counterparts in the same sector.
Monster India managing director (India/Middle East/ Southeast Asia/Hong Kong) Sanjay Modi said: "The country is on the edge of a new wave of development that is expected to deliver jobs and prosperity to millions, which has a direct correlation with salary/income."
The gender-gap in pay is recorded across the world, including the US, where research backs the claim that women are paid less than their male counterparts.
In India, the gender pay gap is significant across all sectors, reads the research result. Women, on average, receive 34% less than their male counterparts in the IT sector, and in the financial sector, the difference is at 19%.
The report noted that even as more women are seen holding supervisory positions, it still does not translate into better pay.
"The MSI report is a standard systematic research aimed at empowering recruiters and jobseekers with a credible platform to compare salaries," said WageIndicator Foundation director Paulien Osse.
Monster Salary Index (MSI) is an initiative by Monster India in collaboration with Paycheck.in (managed by WageIndicator Foundation) with IIM-Ahmedabad as a research partner, to analyze the WageIndicator dataset beginning Q1 2012 to Q4 2014, reported BusinessLine.
