Reliance has enhanced its Diwali bonus by at least 20 per cent. The lowest category of employees has received an average bonus of Rs 16,000, clerical staff Rs 20,000, and trainees about Rs 22,000. For the senior management cadre, which includes top secretarial staff, the payouts range between Rs 28,000 and Rs 30,000, while the top management has received a bonus of around Rs 50,000 to over Rs 1 lakh.

Cautious of making lavish payments, the diversified Larsen & Tourbo has initiated a process wherein, a majority of its employees come under a performance-linked payment reward (PLPR). All staff from the supervisory category right up to executive vice-presidents now come under the PLPR system.

The rewards for each employee category has been raised from about Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 in the lowest category, and to about Rs 45,000 in the top-most cadre. And for those employees who are out of this innovative reward system, the payouts vary from Rs 20,000 to Rs 26,000, depending on the number of years of service. The company pays about 30 per cent of its basic and dearness allowance (DA) as bonus.

Kamghar Aghadi president PN Samant, who has signed nearly 42 settlments this season, says: "Companies which pay bonus without fail have increased their payout by about Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 this time. In some cases, like German Remedies and Deepak Fertilisers, the increase has been in the region of Rs 3,000."

Cadbury rewards all permanent non-management employees with a bonus if they have completed at least 100 continous working days. The bonus works out to approximately Rs 500 for every completed month, up to a maximum limit of Rs 6,000. This time, the bonus is expected to cover 1,800 Cadbury employees. All management cadre employees come under a separate performance-linked incentive scheme.

Even at Tata group companies like Telco and Tisco, only the unionised category of employees enjoy a bonus. This works out roughly to a month's pay, which would vary between Rs 3,500 and Rs 5,000. All employees who have completed a year of service are eligible for the bonus.

At pharma major Hoechst, the bonus covers only 850 employees. They are paid about 20 per cent of their basic and DA as per the Bonus Act. The average payout this year works out to between Rs 4,000 and Rs 12,000.