Archives- News Updates On November

Demand for Chartered Accountants to remain high: ICAI

The President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) explained the important role of Chartered Accountants to ensure financial discipline at all levels of management. CAs are experts not only in financial discipline but also have excellence in all levels of management like human resource, policy making and can be a complete solution provider. In this time of turbulence they will lead the companies in every managerial decision especially in finance.

Source: The Business standard, November 30, 2008. “Chartered Accountants to be much in demand: ICAI”

Stricter norms for screening and checking of employees

Background screening of employees and checking them well in advance before hiring is set to be followed on a stricter basis. After the recent terrorist attack in the metros the importance of screening and checking future employee is clear in the minds of every employer. Currently, ninety per cent of all registered companies in India do not undertake background screening of their employees,

Source: The Hindu business line, November 30, 2008. “Corporates may tighten norms to screen employees”

5 lakh people employed in handicraft sector lose their jobs

The demand in the export of Art metal wares, laces, wooden and wrought iron handicrafts, embroidered and crocheted goods has frozen due to the US market slowdown. This has resulted in job losses for more than 5 lakh people in the industry. Forty per cent exporters have closed down their factories. 50 per cent people in the four most affected clusters of Moradabad, Jaipur, Saharanpur, Jodhpur and Narsapur (Andhra Pradesh) have lost their jobs.

Source: The Economic Times, November 30, 2008. “5 lakh jobs lost in handicraft sector: Official”

Pension to PSU banks staff to increase burden on banks

Indian Banks’ Association and trade unions have brought the issue of providing pension to the state-owned banks employees of the (Public Sector Union) PSU banks. This suggestion may build up financial burden of Rs. 800 to 1000 crore (for 27 PSU banks) on the management of these banks. The employee has to forgo the provident fund benefit in order to get the pension option.

Source: The Hindustan Times, November 28, 2008. “Government under pressure to give pension for PSU bank employees”

‘Plan something else than lay-offs’, proposes Ministry of Corporate Affairs

Ministry of Corporate affairs urged industries to plan some other strategies for cost cutting rather than reducing jobs. This urge was the result of the announcement that 5 lakh textile workers will lose their jobs in next 5 five months. The Joint Secretary on behalf on Ministry said that industries must bring out some innovative cost-cutting solutions and add value to their services for a unique place in the market at the time of crisis.

Source: The Hindu Business Line, November 27, 2008. “Reducing jobs is no answer to global crisis: MCA”

Union cabinet approves increase in salary of SC, HC judges

The Chief Justice of India will now get monthly salary of Rs. 100000 plus dearness allowance (DA). Judges of Supreme Court and Chief Justice of High Court will get monthly salary of Rs. 90000 plus DA, while judges of High court will draw a monthly salary of Rs. 80000 plus DA. This increase will be with effect from January 1, 2006. The arrears will be given in 40:60 proportions in the current year and next year respectively. And also the sumptuary and furnishing allowance for all Supreme Court and high court judges will be double the existing limit with effect from September 1, 2008.

Source: The Tribune, November 27, 2008. “Higher salaries for SC, HC judges”

Financial crisis brings hopes for consultancy services of Indian IT companies

With the consolidation of financial market, the consultancy operations of IT companies have increased. The merge or acquisition of financial companies will need the help of these IT companies to consult them on integration, regulation and efficient utilization of resources. These companies will flourish during the global crisis as clients demand more from less.

Source: The Economic Times, November 26, 2008. “IT cos betting big on consultancy services”

Have a look at India’s unemployment rate

Employment exchange is unable to provide the exact figures of unemployment rate in India. Also, the exact status of employed and unemployed population is concealed behind some confusing terms and its definitions. It says the number of persons/person days worked per 1,000 persons/person days as per usual status, current weekly status and current daily status was 549, 524 and 491 respectively for males and 310, 257 and 203 respectively for females. As of December 2005, 3.93 crore people were unemployed compared to 4.05 crore people in December 2004.

Source: The Financial Express, November 26, 2008. “Just what is India’s unemployment rate?”

IT-BPOs may have to pay for violating the law for working hours

The Indian arm of Union for Information & Technology Enable Service (UNITES), the first union in IT-BPO sector, had raised an alarm against the increasing working hours. They are planning to file a public interest litigation (PIL) against the companies who have increased working hours of their employees. The union said that the companies whose employees have to put in more than 8 hours are violating the Indian Factories Act, 1948. The companies say that this extension in working hours is just to keep the firm going smoothly through this crisis.

Source: The Business Standard, November 26, 2008. “IT-BPO union to file PIL against 'extended' working hours”

Good times for Indian outsourcing industries

According to Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) study, Indian outsourcing industries will not have to worry much as they remain the prime destination for outsourcing. This is due to the price advantage the country offers and the companies which have evolved into truly global companies that can offer best in class services at very competitive prices. Indian IT/BPO is second with lowest salary base $7,500-8,500, while for China it is $7,000-8,000, and for Philippines it is $9,000-10,000.

Source: The India Times, November 26, 2008. “Outsourcing to India to go up: D&B”

Workers worldwide to see wage cut due to the global crisis: ILO

The world is to witness one of the worst times due to the global economic crisis says ILO. This crisis will lead to painful cuts in the wages of around 1.5 million wage earners in coming years. The negative economic growth and the highly volatile food and energy prices will erode the real wages of workers. The effect will particularly be on low-wage and poor household and also the middle classes.

Source: The Economic Times, November 26, 2008. “Painful cuts in wages soon: ILO” 

Low wage growth due to the global crisis: ILO

The growth in wages will be low in developing countries. A report by ILO also states that growth in wages worldwide in 2008 will not exceed 1.7% and for the developed countries the wages growth will at a meager 0.8%. It also states that countries where collective bargaining covered more than 30% of employees, a 0.87% growth in wages will be seen, compared with only 0.65% wage growth in countries with lower coverage.

Source: The Economic Times, November 26, 2008. “Wage War: Low salary growth stares developed world in the face”

Financial sector maintains its space at B-schools summer placement

Despite of financial crisis, the financial sector maintained its place in summer placements of many B-schools. For instance, IIM-A had 45% recruitment from finance and 20% from investment banks, IIM-L had 32% recruitment from finance and Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) had 15 per cent of its batch placed in financial sector. But student favored domestic offers more instead of foreign ones due to drop in stipends offered by foreign firms.

Source: The Business standard, November 25, 2008. “Finance scores at summer placements '08”

Companies revise their salary strategies

Many companies are now thinking to revise their compensation plans and strategies for attracting, rewarding and retaining their employees due to the present slowdown, says a report from Mercer. Nearly 82% of companies revise their compensation strategies once in a year and 11% of the companies revise their pay range according to market conditions. Benchmarking salary is now becoming popular among the Indian organizations as very few companies in India have good compensation practices. 

Source: The Financial Express, November 25, 2008. “Cos taking cue from crisis to rationalize pay packages”

2 crore jobs created in 50 years by IITians

A report has revealed that IITians have contributed highly in improving the economy of the country in terms of wealth creation and social transformation. The study found that IITians had created 2 crore jobs in past 50 years. These jobs include senior positions across industries and governments with budgetary responsibility for over Rs. 40 lakh crore. They are also associated with incremental economic value creation of Rs. 20 lakh crore.

Source: The Economic Times, November 25, 2008. “IITians created 2 crore jobs in 50 years: Study”

After salary cut, firms increase working hours of employees

“Time and material” model is a new measure for cost cutting, but there is something different. In this method the company makes its employee work for some extra hours and thus, indirectly increases its revenue and productivity. Many technology firms have increased or are about to increase the working hours of their employees. TCS, Wipro, Accenture, and Infosys make their employee put in 9 hours, 9.5 hours, 9.5 hours, 9 hours respectively.

Source: The Economic Times, November 25, 2008. “More working hours for techies”

Many ways, but the motto is to cut cost

The situation has gone from bad to worse in the auto sector as companies find innovative ways to cut operating costs. With layoffs, reduction in entertainment allowance and stationery expenses, auto companies are also cutting the expenses on travel and entertainment of their employees. Tata Motors has laid-off more than 4000 temporary employees. Force Motor has introduced five-day week and SKF has transferred 20 employees to other sections. At Renault, senior employees faces prospect of lower bonus this year.

Source: The Economic Times, November 24, 2008. “Auto companies go beyond layoffs & shutdowns in austerity drive”

Young professionals pin their hopes on Common Wealth Games 2010

The Common Wealth Games have raised the hopes of many young professional as nearly 1000 jobs will be filled for 34 functional areas. Headhunters like ABC Consultants, Ma Foi Management Consultants and a consortium of Team Lease and People Strong have been appointed for the same. The functional areas include finance, logistics, construction, legal, technology and administration, television and radio broadcasting, communications and press relations catering, security and hospitality.

Source: The Economic Times, November 24, 2008. “Commonwealth Games raise hope on Job Street”

Expatriate pilots may have to bear 5-10% cut in salary

The Chairman of Jet Airways proposed that their expatriate pilots, whose monthly salary is above Rs 75,000, bear 5-10% cut in their salary and a voluntary retirement scheme for older staff. The company had also proposed a 10% and 20% salary cut for junior and senior domestic pilots respectively, but the pilots rejected their proposal while asking the management to reduce the salary of their 200 expatriate pilots as they are their huge burden.

Source: The Financial Express, November 23, 2008. “Jet proposes 5-10% salary cut, VRS”

Karnataka fails to fulfills its promise of livelihood security of people

NREGA (National Rural employment Guarantee Act) in Karnataka is failing to gain momentum compared to other southern states. The state has not been able to take off the program in 18 districts and has only provided 15.18 lakh jobs till now. The main hindrance that comes across for the implementation of this scheme are lower daily wages (Rs. 92) and simultaneously the increasing availability of higher paying jobs in the construction industry and plantations, the absence of adequate support from gram panchayats, the lack of awareness among the rural poor and the frequent transfer of the State project director.

Source: The Hindu, November 22, 2008. “Rural job scheme yet to gain momentum in many districts”

5 lakh textile workers will lose their job

Commerce secretary G. K. Pillai, on the basis of a textile ministry estimate, has projected that 5 lakh textile workers may lose their job. This is due to the sharp slowdown in the export demand of textile products. This warning has followed negative sentiments expressed by the Prime Minister about the ‘deep crisis’ and will potentially increase the jobless rate substantially.

Source: The Indian Express, November 22, 2008. “Government raises layoff alarm: 5 lakh textile workers may lose jobs”

IT-BPO bandwagon to slow down, hiring to dip

Lesser or ‘uncertain’ growth in the IT-BPO industry would slow down hiring in the respective companies, Nasscom president, Mr. Som Mittal, has said. Despite unprecedented events hitting the fortunes of IT-BPO companies hard, net hiring will continue to happen as there are client companies that are growing. The industry is also looking at Japan, the Nordic and Scandinavian countries for more business.

Source: The Business Line, November 21, 2008. “Dip in IT-BPO hiring likely”

Case study contest to get you that dream job

Companies like Pepsi, Spencer’s Retail and Dabur are luring fresh talent and ideas using case study contests. Cash rewards and even pre-placement offers are being doled out to winning students devising fresh strategies. PepsiCo is presenting the winning team an opportunity to present their case studies to Ms Indra Nooyi as part of their contest while Dabur has asked B-school students to formulate business strategies for the FMCG major.

Source: The Business Line, November 21, 2008. “Cos use case study to woo talent from campus”

Attrition Effect: ONGC to shower perks and special loans

Laptops, car loans and education loans are among a slew of incentives and perks announced by ONGC for its 30,000 strong staff in a bid to counter the attrition threat as many oil companies start back-office operations in India. Though the topmost brass would see almost an 80-100% jump in their salaries, the largesse includes car advances up to Rs 8 lakh and education loans up to Rs 15 lakh at 4% interest to wards of employees, which ONGC hopes will help stem rising attrition.

Source: The Economic Times, November 21, 2008. “ONGC rains perks to counter attrition”

Private pension funds set to start by April next year

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is ready to start the process to set up private pension funds benefiting lakhs of salaried and non-salaried people. The fund managers will have to set up a separate asset management company to offer pension plans. They will offer five or six schemes each varying according to an individuals risk appetite including for completely risk-averse people. The announcement is good news for individuals as more competition brings out attractive schemes.

Source: The Business Standard, November 20, 2008. “Pvt pension funds to start by April 1”

Telcos firm up hiring plans on unprecedented rise in subscriber numbers

Telecom companies across India are expected to hire over 16,000 people, 15 to 20 per cent more than last year, to meet the unprecedented expansion in customer base. While the launch of third-generation or 3G services is also expected to spur demand for talent, a large number of people will be hired by new entrants in the telecom sector. A whopping 10 million subscribers were added in October and the subscriber base is expected to more than double to 750 million by 2012 as against 300 million currently.

Source: The Business Standard, November 20, 2008. “Bucking the slowdown, telcos up hiring plans”

‘FinTech 100’ list includes TCS at sixth spot

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) along with five other Indian firms has been named among the top 100 global entities offering IT solutions for the financial services industry worldwide. Patni Computer Systems is ranked 35th ; Polaris Software Lab (38), Mphasis (39), Firstsource Solutions (54) and iGate Global Solutions (65) were other Indian companies in the list. Infosys, placed 14th last year could not find a place in this year’s list.

Source: The Business Standard, November 20, 2008. “TCS among six Indian cos named on 'FinTech 100' list”

69 lakh new jobs in Maharashtra SEZs

Maharashtra said it expects 69 lakh new jobs in SEZs coming up across the state, while justifying the recent government resolution (GR) seeking job reservation for locals. But in the wake of criticism from the industry, it has been forced to soften its stand with the industries minister clarifying that the GR was not mandatory but govt expected companies to honour it voluntarily.

Source: The Times of India, November 20, 2008. “Govt expects 69 lakh new jobs in SEZs”

PFRDA mulls fifth option for govt employees’ investment

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is considering a fifth option for investment of contribution made by government employees under the new pension scheme. The Default Option is a life-cycle fund under which the amount of money invested in equity would be more in the initial stages while in the later stages, more money would be invested in debt instruments. This option has become a global trend and is especially beneficial for India where financial literacy is very low and there is an inability to sense future risks.

Source: The Business Standard, November 20, 2008. “PFRDA plans fifth option for govt employees investment”

Pay hike for CPSU staff on cards

After the bureaucracy, it’s the turn of CPSU staff to reap the benefits of the sixth pay commission recommendations. Reports suggest that the salaries of managers, executives, CMDs and directors could be doubled. If the proposal is cleared by the Cabinet, around 3.8 lakh CPSU employees stand to benefit. The hike is likely to be implemented from January 1, 2007.

Source: The Times of India, November 20, 2008. “Pay hike for CPSU staff from January 1?”

Finance Ministry has objections against judges’ pay hike plan

The Union Finance Ministry has opposed the pay hike to members of the higher judiciary cleared by the Chief Justice of India and has recommended a cut in the proposed salary structure. The matter is to be taken up by the Union cabinet in view of the contradictory stance of the Finance Ministry and the Law Ministry.

Source: The Indian Express, November 20, 2008. “FinMin objects to judges' pay hike plan”

In a first, experienced women professionals to train graduates

With the shortage of talent and skillsets looming large, two corporates seem to have found a unique way out. The two biggies plan to lure more experienced women pros to teach and pass on their domain knowledge to the student fraternity. A Chennai-based company, Avtar, has a database of 5000 women ready to work for the initiative. The programme could prove a win-win for all while facilitating the women pros to update their knowledge and bridging the skill shortage gap among fresh graduates.

Source: The Economic Times, November 20, 2008. “India Inc woos women pros to train graduates”

Global crisis has little effect on IIMA as all students secure summer placements

All the 300 students of PGPM and PGP-ABM at IIM Ahmedabad got comfortably placed in next year’s summer placements notwithstanding the global economic crisis. With the exception of Lehman Brothers, all prominent international banks and financial institutions including Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch registered their presence in the placement process. However, the effect of the economic crisis was evident from the selective approach adopted by the companies and reduction in the number of offers.

Source: The Hindu, November 19, 2008. “Global meltdown leaves IIMA unscathed”

Citi, HSBC job cuts to leave India operations unscathed

Citibank announced that its global job cutting will not affect its India operations. This is mainly due the sale of Citigroup Global Services Ltd, which will effectively halve its Indian headcount. Meanwhile, HSBC has also announced 500 job cuts in Asia, none of which will affect India.

Source: The Business Line, November 19, 2008. “Citi, HSBC not to cut jobs in India for now”

Employee screening to go online

First Advantage, an employee background screening company, has announced the launch of VerifyDirect, a database-driven online screening service. Aiming to be the largest database of employment screening records in India and the Asia-Pacific, the service covers all sectors across all levels of employees. The product would ease the load on Human Resource department by reducing the time-to-hire and thereby enabling it to focus on more productive and strategic functions.

Source: Blonnet.com, November 19, 2008. “Web-based screening of employees launched”

CII-HR Excellence Model to cover 50 firms

The Confederation of Indian Industry, Southern Region (CII-SR) is planning to cover atleast 50 companies from each state under its HR audit for assessment thorough its excellence model. The programme aims to help companies in increasing their HR capabilities and adopt better practices. The assessment will be carried out by senior HR professionals trained by CII Quality Institute. A certificate will also be awarded after successful completion of the audit.

Source: Blonnet.com, November 19, 2008. “CII targets to cover 50 firms under HR audit “

Job market to be hit: Labour Minister

The demand-supply gap is widening with each passing day making lay-offs imminent in the future, Union Minister for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernandes has said. With demand falling in the domestic market, stocks are piling up exerting considerable stress on the production chain. But Oscar assured that the government will chip in to see that production chain is continued, while expressing optimism about production to remain normal, which would protect jobs.

Source: The Hindustan Times, November 19, 2008. “Job market could take a hit: Oscar”

Looking for jobs? Dial here

It is hard to believe but there are companies actually hiring in today’s era of pink-slips and lay-offs. SBI and Bank of India plan to hire 35,000 people over the coming months. Accenture will hire 10,000 people in India by 2010, while top management consultants Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu are looking to hire 3,500 in India in 3 years. IT companies are also planning to add 60,000 new faces in their workforce. Construction biggie L&T will also pickup 10,000 people over the next 3 years.

Source: The Economic Times, November 19, 2008. “Where are the jobs in India?”

Digging up old rule, Maharashtra promises to give preference to locals

In a pre-election gimmick, toeing the Shiv Sena and MNS line, the Maharashtra government has decided to strictly implement the 1968 policy giving preference to locals for jobs in state industries. Issuing a government resolution (GR), it wants 80% of junior jobs for locals and 50% jobs in supervisory levels for locals in small scale industries to large units. The reservation is for all citizens who have resided in Maharashtra for more than 15 years and one needs a domicile certificate to prove the same.

Source: The Times of India, November 18, 2008. “Maharashtra digs up '68 rule, vows to give preference to locals” 

2 months on: over 90,000 financial jobs cut

The financial crisis has seen a huge wave of lay-offs totalling to nearly 90,000 since this September. A whopping 52,000 jobs have been axed by Citigroup Inc. while American Express, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, UBS and HSBC have cut down 7000, 3300, 3000, 200 and 1600 jobs respectively, among many others. With all these dismissals coming in just 2 months since September, the mood continues to be gloomy in the financial sector.

Source: The Financial Express, November 18, 2008. “Nearly 90,000 financial jobs cut since Sept”

Government goes all out to create jobs, to spend 25,000 crore

The Central government is pullng out all the stops in efforts to create jobs for people who will affected by the ongoing global credit crisis. An expenditure of Rs. 25,000 crore for infrastructure and job creation is on the cards. The PM and Commerce Minister have also asked the industry to refrain form lay-offs. All the sectors have suffered negative growth of upto 70% and as a consequence, lakhs of jobs are expected to be shed in the next 2-3 months.

Source: The Telegraph, November 18, 2008. “Cash blitz for jobs” 

No crisis here as PSU bank staff to get pay hikes

Contrary to pay cuts in the private sector, the 700,000 strong PSU bank staff is set to get a hefty salary hike. Negotiations are on between the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and trade unions on wage revision, with the unions seeking a 20 per cent hike. The annual bill is expected to be between Rs. 1,500 and Rs. 2,000 crore from the hikes, but union leaders are optimistic as all public sector banks have shown a healthy growth and increase in profits.

Source: The Hindustan Times, November 18, 2008. “No slowing down: PSU bank staff set for fat pay hikes” 

40,000 more jobs as companies bullish on India story

While the west loses sleep over its job woes, companies in India have ambitious plans to scale up and hire more people. MetLife India is looking to recruit about 2,000 managers and an eye-popping 30,000 advisors in the coming months Global consultancy firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is planning to increase their headcount to 12,000 people by 2011 from 8,500 at present. The irony here is that companies plan to hire close to 40,000 people in India, but more than 30,000 jobs have been cut in the Americas and Europe.

Source: The Business Standard, November 17, 2008. “Its raining jobs in India amid global crisis”

Outsourcing to be a non-issue in ties with the Obama administration

Strengthening of ties between India and the US will continue and Outsourcing will not be a bone of contention between the two countries, assured Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission. The issue was discussed at the G-20 summit in Washington where Madeline Albright, on deputation by President-elect Barack Obama, promised that change in policies started during the Clinton era would continue.

Source: The Business Standard, November 17, 2008. “India feels outsourcing won’t be an issue in ties with US”

Asia-wide union to protect jobs in the BFSI sector

Representatives of 20 unions from countries including India, South Korea, Pakistan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have joined hands to form the first transnational association of the financial sector workforce called the Asian Regional Organisation of Banks, Insurance and Finance Unions (AROBIFU). Its twin objectives would include job safety of the BFSI sector workforce and resisting forces that may attempt to hinder the socio-economic growth of Asian countries. The association will be centered in Chennai with offices in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan.

Source: The Business Standard, November 17, 2008. “Asian banks’ employees form union to protect jobs”

Punjab mulling 23% hike in minimum wages

Punjab Minimum Wages Board chairman Tikshan Sood has suggested a record 23% hike in minimum wages in respect of 60 scheduled employments in the state. Against Rs100.51 being paid earlier, the board has proposed revision of minimum wage of unskilled workers to Rs123.12. Sood said the minimum wages were being revised after a long gap of eight years while also proposing the Centre to ask states to revise minimum wages after every two years.

Source: The Financial Express, November 17, 2008. “Punjab mulls 23% hike in min wages”

"Paycheck India will be updating the site with Minimum Wage data soon"

Union Bank in expansion mode: 500 new branches to be opened

Sailing against the wind has become commonplace in Indian companies. Union Bank plans to hire 5000 people to man the 500 new branches it proposes to open in the next 5 months. This would increase its branch strength to 3000 while strengthening its network in the Nort-East region. The aim is to open 50 per cent of branches in unbanked areas and the remaining in banked areas, explained Mr. Nair, CMD of Union Bank. 

Source: Business Line, November 17, 2008. “Union Bank to hire 5,000 more this fiscal”

The Forbes’ India 40 Rich list features two women

The Forbes’ India Rich list complied by US magazine has two women hitting the male bastion of the Richie-Rich. Savitri Jindal, Chairperson of O P Jindal Group is ranked 12th and is India’s richest woman with a net worth of $ 2.9 billion. Indu Jain, Chairperson of Bennett, Coleman & Co is ranked 17th with a net worth of $ 1.8 billion. But the ongoing global turmoil has reduced the number of women in the list from three last year to just two this year.

Source: The Business Standard, November 13, 2008. “Two women make it to Forbes' India 40 Rich list”

Lower wage rates in IT industry; attrition sees a downturn

The annual wage hike in Indian IT industry has gone down from 13-14 percent last year to 8-9 percent this year. But this, contrary to expectations, has reduced the attrition rate by 6-7 percent helping the IT industry. According to Som Mittal, Chairman of Nasscom, there won’t be any major lay-offs in the sector barring a few small firms. IT export is also expected to grow above 20 per cent this year keeping the employment scenario stable for large IT companies.

Source: The Financial Express, November 12, 2008. “IT looks at lesser pay hikes, lower attrition next year”

Global Crisis hits 20,000 jobs in Tirupur

The global economic slowdown has hit Tirupur’s Knitwear industry in a big way. Due to 30 per cent decrease in the orders placed with Tirupur Knitwear cluster, about 20,000 workers would lose their jobs. The industry as asked for government help in bringing down the interest rate on pre-shipment and post-shipment credits to six per cent without any link to Prime Lending Rate. There is also a demand to increase duty drawback rates on cotton-based knitwear products from 8.8 per cent to 11 per cent.

Source: The Hindu, November 12, 2008. “20,000 knitwear workers to lose jobs”

Nasscom skill development programs to target Northern cities

Nasscom which has its skill development programs in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, is targeting northern regions including Chandigarh and Punjab which have considerable IT and ITES companies. Competition from China has led to Nasscom’s role as a facilitator to build skills and bridge the skill shortage gap. With IT companies hiring close to two lakh professionals this year, Nasscom is looking forward in the areas like media, animation, utilities and software products as high growth areas.

Source: The Financial Express, November 11, 2008. “Nasscom to target north for skill development”

Indian industries resort to hiring on ‘temporary’ basis

As part of the cost-cutting and retrenchment drive, the demand for temporary staff in various sectors is growing at 25-30 per cent over the last six months. About 1.20 lakh temporary staffers are currently employed by the top 5 employers. For Indian industries, apart from reducing cost of hiring, absorption, managing people and better compliance, there are substantial savings between 20-40 per cent in their total wages. Bangalore is paying the most in IT and HR, Mumbai in engineering and Delhi in sales to their temporary staffs with the 3 cities also offering the best wage hikes.

Source: The Economic Times, November 11, 2008. “India Industries betting big on temporary employees” and The Hindu Business line, October 27, 2008. “IT firms resort to ‘temporary’ hiring to beat US slowdown”

Lost your job? You may miss your gratuity and leave encashment as well

After getting pink slips, employees now have to face the possibility of not getting their gratuity and leave encashment under the current cash crisis. About 40% of domestic companies do not have a separate trust and thus, no separate funds to pay gratuity. While about 90% of domestic companies do not have dedicated funds under a trust to pay for leave encashment. These kinds of separate trust are not mandatory but the government encourages such trusts to manage funds by income-tax sops.

Source: The Economic Times, November 11, 2008. “Job losers may miss gratuity & leave encashment too”

Summer placements are a mixed bag at IIMs

The summer placements at the IIMs in Calcutta, Kozhikode, Lucknow, and Ahmedabad have left the students dumbfounded. As expected, summer placements are going through a rough patch. But surprisingly, at IIM-Calcutta, 50 percent of slot zero offers have been made by I-banks while IIM-Kozhikode has had 9 I-banks making 23 offers this year. IIM-Ahmedabad had only 50 offers from 20 companies while last year it had 120 offers from 36 companies. Overall it is a mixed bag with IIMs at Ahmedabad and Lucknow not specifying the numbers of I-bankers but are expected to have good number of offers as well.

Source: The Economic Times, November 11, 2008. “IIMs’ new game plan is working”; The Times of India, November 12, 2008. “IIM- A summer placement may see few i-banks”; The Times of India, November 14, 2008. “Offers dip on Day Zero at IIM-A summer placement”

It’s the ‘S’ word everywhere as Slowdown affects jobs of 3 lakh travel agents this time

Slowdown hit airlines have stopped paying commission to travel agents. The airlines have decided to do away with agents’ 5 per cent commission as a measure towards cost-savings; as a result of which more than 29,000 non-IATA agents across the country are about to lose their jobs. Air travel agencies account for about 90 percent of the trade and employ more than 3 lakh people. With the airlines asking the agents to collect their fees of Rs 1,500-2,000 on domestic sectors and Rs 3,500-7,000 on international routes directly from the passenger, their future appears grim.

Source: The Business Standard, November 10, 2008. “3 lakh travel agents may lose job”

About 32,300 youth register their names in job fair in Virudhunagar District

A job fair in Virudhunagar district by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam will have 32,300 candidates. This job fair is being held to provide educated youth of semi-urban areas attractive job opportunities like their urban counterparts. A similar job fair held at Vellore facilitated jobs for at least 17, 000 aspirants in different villages. 6,000 youths have registered their names for the job fair in Virudhunagar, 4,324 in Sattur, 4,073 in Aruppukottai, 6,128 in Sivakasi, 5,498 in Srivilliputtur, 6,040 in Rajapalayam and 396 candidates in Kariapatti.

Source: The Hindu, November 10, 2008. “32,300 candidates register for job fair in Virudhunagar district”

World’s 100 most influential telecom leaders list includes seven Indians

Topped by Google CEO Eric Schmidt, a list featuring World’s most influential telecom leaders has included 7 Indians. Srinath Narasimhan of Tata communications is placed among the top 10 at eighth position. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Bharti enterprises is ranked 35th and Manoj Kohli, Chief Executive of Bharti Enterprises is placed in the 39th position. Other Indians in the list include Motorola Mobile Services Division CEO Sanjay Jha (41), Sanjiv Ahuja, Chief of Augere (45), Tata Communications President of global data and mobility solutions Vinod Kumar (68) and former Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin (71).

Source: The Business Standard, November 09, 2008. “Seven Indians among most influential telecom leaders”

50,000 diamond workers shown the exit door in Surat

The global meltdown has also affected Surat, the world’s largest diamond cutting and polishing centre. Around 50,000 unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled daily wage labourers have been asked to take a break for one month as the demand for diamond jewellery in US has decreased. There is an atmosphere of high uncertainty as the break period may increase if the downturn continues. This demand meltdown has also reported over 10000-12000 job losses in Mumbai in the last one and half months. 

Source: MSN news, November 07, 2008. “Global crisis has hit 50,000 jobs in Surat alone!”

No knee-jerk action like lay-offs; assures India Inc.

Indian Industrialists assured Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that there will be no Knee-Jerk actions like retrenchment or lay-offs in the backdrop of the current economic situation. With industries facing problems to raise money to run and expand their business, the government has also assured the industrialists that they will get every possible help from the government in order to fight against the ordeal. Commerce Minister Kamal Nath has asked the industries not to boost profits by retrenching people and to adjust with smaller profits.

Source: Daily News Analysis, November 04, 2008. “No job-cuts, says India Industry” and The Business Standard, November 10, 2008 “Employees on rolls must not be retrenched, says Nath”