Wages and Rupee Rising in India, Prices Up in China

1. NEW DELHI - Rising salaries for Indian software professionals will add to margin pressures at technology outsourcing companies in India, according to a survey released on Tuesday that showed wages rose an average of 18.7% this year.

The average annual salary for a software worker in India has risen to Rs620,000 ($15,500). The rise is slightly above the 18.3% salary increases recorded last year.

While salaries are still low compared with those of developed countries, margins at India’s information technology companies are also being squeezed by the appreciation of the rupee against the dollar. India’s biggest IT outsourcing firms generate most of their revenue from software exports to the US.

2. BEIJING - CONSUMERS in China's cities have had it good for an unusually long time. During most of the past few years of double-digit economic growth, inflation—at least according to official figures—has been barely detectable. But data published this week show the biggest monthly rise in consumer prices for over ten years.

The latest figures were higher than many had expected. The National Bureau of Statistics said that consumer prices rose 6.5% in August compared with a year earlier, up from 5.6% in July.