New Delhi, May 28 -- The fiscal year that went by left a trailing impact on India Inc.'s workforce, who will now have to make peace with poor increments and lower promotions. Even layoffs. The spanner in the works is a sluggish job market. Mint decodes what went wrong.

Consultants who advise companies on pay structures and increments expect hikes-man firms will announce them in June-to be less than what they had estimated as recently as March. While Deloitte had estimated an average pay hike of 8.8%, Aon had predicted 9.2%. Revisions are likely in businesses feeling the strain of geopolitical crises, tariff disputes and cautious client decision-making. Retail inflation eased to a nearly six-year low of 3.16% in April, but that will not s...