There’re signs of a disappearing freeze on funding for startups, but the chill has descended on pay hikes, it seems.

If 39% startups are going to fork out a 10-20% hike in the financial year ending March 31, 2025 (FY25) then a whopping 63% will keep it to that level in FY26 as well, shows The Pulse Of Tech report, the Annual Founder’s Survey by Inc42.

The survey that covered more than 100 founders of leading startups operating in different business lifecycles – seed stage, growth stage and late stage – shows that 40% of respondents are looking to limit the hikes to 15% in 2025-26, while only 23% will shell out 16-20% increment.

“I believe that organisations providing salary increments of 9% to 12% are maintaining a healthy increase, especially considering that salary inflation is around 10%,” argued Satheesh KV, the chief people officer at insurtech startup Acko. “For high-performers, of course, there’s room for up to 20% hike.”

The wide 10% range in projection for FY26 is because the ecosystem consists of companies in different stages of the business cycle, which becomes a major factor in determining the median salary hike in the industry. Internal hiring processes and appraisals too vary across companies.

Going The Extra Mile For Top Talent

It is fairly easy for popular brands to attract and retain talent. But the job is harder for smaller setups in their early stage lifecycle and they often need to offer higher pay hikes.

Nakul Kundra, who cofounded Devnagri,........

© Inc42