More than 9 in 10 at Zoho and Microsoft got 5% or less, as concerns over layoffs and buyouts climb in India
Oct 29: Over one in three of India‘s tech workers got nothing this appraisal cycle. In a survey of 2,178 India-based professionals by Blind, the anonymous community app for professionals, 35% say they received no salary hike (30%) or took a pay cut (5%). Including those who got 1–5%, 59% received a hike of 5% or less, up from 34% in 2025.
Most are unhappy with the result. Overall, 63% are dissatisfied, including 47% who are very dissatisfied. Among those who got no hike or a pay cut, 83% are dissatisfied, compared with 33% of those who received more than 5%.
Workers see it as a top-down decision rather than a verdict on their own performance. 41% say the biggest factor was the company’s financial performance or cost-cutting, while another 18% point to AI and automation. Only 22% cite their individual performance rating.
Zoho illustrates the trade-off. Founder Sridhar Vembu froze annual hikes this year, citing rising AI and server costs, and said the company would work to avoid mass layoffs. Among Zoho respondents to Blind’s survey, 95% received no raise or a pay cut and 90% were dissatisfied. Last year, 84% reported a hike above 10%. On Blind, a Zoho employee wrote that “Zoho folks [are] talking about unionisation after no hike.”
Beyond Zoho, no hike or a pay cut was most common at Oracle (60%), Salesforce (42%), Cisco (40%) and Amazon (36%). Nutanix stood out at the other end, with 67% receiving raises above 10%. Amazon’s results were split: 36% received no raise or a pay cut, while 33% received raises above 15%.
At Microsoft, small raises have coincided with buyouts. 91% of Microsoft respondents got 5% or less this year, doubling from 45% last year. Only 5% got a raise of more than 10%, down from 27%. 86% were dissatisfied, the second-highest share after Zoho. The findings come as Microsoft offers voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees across India, the U.S., Canada and the U.K. as it pours money into AI.
For many, the salary may not even be the biggest worry. Over the past year, 21% of Blind users in India searched for layoffs or severance, up from 16% the year before. The share searching for buyouts and voluntary exit programs rose 60%, while the share searching for hikes, raises or pay freezes fell 7%.
Methodology
Blind surveyed 2,178 India-based professionals on October 15–26, 2026, on their salary hike this year. Company-level analysis includes companies with at least 30 responses per question. Year-over-year comparisons use 2,417 India-based respondents to Blind’s 2025 survey. Search trends compare November 2025–October 2026 with the same period a year earlier, measured as a share of searches and searchers in each period.
Response breakdowns are as follows:
What salary hike did you get in this appraisal cycle?
- Pay cut: 5%
- No hike (0%): 30%
- 1–5%: 24%
- 6–10%: 19%
- 11–15%: 10%
- Above 15%: 12%
How satisfied are you with your hike this cycle?
- Very satisfied: 7%
- Somewhat satisfied: 12%
- Neutral: 19%
- Somewhat dissatisfied: 15%
- Very dissatisfied: 47%
What do you think was the biggest factor behind your hike this cycle?
- My individual performance rating: 22%
- Company’s financial performance or cost-cutting: 41%
- AI and automation changing team priorities: 18%
- Promotion or role change: 6%
- My manager’s influence: 13%