Archives- News Updates On March

Recession-hit companies to adopt scientific recruitment strategies

According to Sheeroy, CEO, Professional Aptitude Council (PAC), recession-hit companies will begin optimizing staff potential and adopt a scientific method in their recruitment policies, laying more emphasis on quality than quantity. They would aim to hire people in large numbers to shortlist the ones that are 'best available' geographically. The PAC test will provide them with a complete professional dimension of the candidates to decide from “where to hire” and “where to locate the firm”.

Source: Business Standard, March 31, 2009. “Post-recession to see shift in hiring patterns” Page no. 12

PSU officers to draw salaries at par with their private sector counterparts

With suggestions coming in from public sector enterprises, CMDs could soon collect monthly salaries to the tune of Rs 6.74 lakh with perks that would include an element for capital cost of infrastructure facilities. The basic salary would include 50% of the dearness allowance (DA) for the purpose of fitment and pay fixation in the new scales, superannuation and retirement benefits too. 

Source: The Economic Times, March 31, 2009. “Additional salary benefits & allowances for CPSE officers” Page no.7

IIM-A and Union Bank to conduct research on SMEs

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and the Union Bank of India will jointly conduct a theoretical research on government policies to boost the small and medium enterprise sector as part of the MoU signed in this regard. These institutes will set up 'Union Bank-IIMA Centre of Excellence' and 'Union Bank Chair Professor of SME' that will help the credit system serve the sector in a better way.

Source: Business Standard, March 31, 2009. “IIM-A, Union Bank sign MoU for SME research” Page no. 11

Job crisis is here to stay: ILO

The ILO had projected a loss of 50 million jobs and expected recruitments to resume by mid 2009-10, but a new study claims that the job crisis could be a prolonged one if coordinated recovery strategies towards the financial, trade, economic, employment and social roots of the crisis are not implemented globally. The study covering 32 countries also depicted that 90 million new jobs are needed to fill the gap and marked that the stimulus as a percentage of GDP for advanced economies at 1.3% is less than half of that allocated by developing and emerging economies. 

Source: The Economic Times, March 30, 2009. “Job crisis to be prolonged & severe than expected: ILO” 

IT firms to hire medical professionals for life sciences business

Many IT companies like Cognizant, Accenture, TCS and Patni are hiring people from the medical fraternity for their life sciences business. The global life sciences market, which may be as large as $830 billion in 2009, deals with research and development in the discovery/pre-clinical and clinical phase of drugs, manufacturing, analytics for sales and marketing and regulatory compliance.

Source: The Economic Times, March 30, 2009. “IT firms hiring pharma guys for life sciences biz”

HR professionals in India under pressure to cut frills 

According to Assocham, with attrition rate sliding in almost all sectors, HR professionals have virtually stopped fresh recruitments. The economic slowdown has also put tremendous pressure to reduce cost with measures like wage cut of 10-15% at middle and senior-middle levels and 25-35% at senior levels.

Source: The Economic Times, March 30, 2009. “India Inc stops fresh recruitments: Assocham”

Pension scheme to be effective from May 1

After receiving clarifications from the Election Commission, the New Pension Scheme (NPS), which is applicable to the organized and unorganized sector, will be launched from May 1, 2009. The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) will promote the scheme through television, radio and print advertisements whereby any Indian citizen will be able to join NPS with a minimum investment of Rs 6000 annually.

Source: The Economic Times, March 30, 2009. “Pension for all, up & running from May 1”

Indian firms seek govt approval for over-the-limit executive salaries

Amidst global downturn, companies like Ranbaxy and Strides Arcolab are seeking approval from the government to pay high managerial remuneration, which is fixed on the basis of the projected profits. Some of them are also crossing the prescribed limits of remuneration set by the Companies Act and are now applying to the government for a waiver.

Source: The Economic Times, March 28, 2009. “India Inc rushes to government on executive pay”

Fall in ‘variable pay’ could benefit IT firms in cost-cutting

Many IT firms like Wipro and TCS have decided to cut down on a part of the variable pay of its staff to cope up with the economic gloom. A reduction of 50% in variable pay could save upto 10-20% of the firm’s total expenditure as employees account for 50-80% of the total operating expenses. On the contrary, Cognizant Technology, which has made high profits last year, has paid healthy bonuses to its employees.

Source: The Economic Times, March 28, 2009. “Variable pay cuts may shore up IT cos' bottomlines” Page no. 7

Tribals of Kheroni far from happy with NREGA scheme

The happiness of the tribal communities at Kheroni lasted only a few days after the new NREGA scheme was introduced. According to the local community, the scheme which assures 100 days of work every year at Rs 77 per day has become a tool to garner votes ahead of the elections. Many of them who have managed to get job cards could get work only for 10-20 days.

Source: The Indian Express, March 28, 2009. “For tribals, job scheme a farce, PDS a joke” Page no. 7

Fee structure may remain the same at IIM-A

The governing council of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad will discuss the changes, if any, to be made to the current fee structure of Rs11.5 lakh. However, if sources are to be believed, the PGP committee is bound to retain the fee structure in wake of the economic slowdown and drop in the salaries. Even the financial aid and awards committee which recommends the structure of a fee waiver has not confirmed anything so far.

Source: DNA, March 28, 2009. “IIM-A unlikely to change fee structure” Page no. 3

Job loss cover to serve as a boon during recession

With job uncertainty looming large, companies like ICICI have launched a job loss cover to evade the risk of unemployment which includes three equated monthly installments (EMIs) and will be sold as an add-on cover with its critical illness policy. The job loss could be a result of closure of department or employer’s company, termination from employment due to illness but doesn’t cover retrenchment due to underperformance, voluntary resignation or early retirement.

Source: The Economic Times, March 27, 2009. “Now, job loss cover to make pink slip less painful” Page no. 9

EC gives nod for 9% hike in salaries of PSU staff

The Election Commission has given its approval for the hike of 9.4% in the basic pay of 1.2 lakh non-unionized supervisory staff and 2.58 lakh board-level officers in 216 operational central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) effective from January 1, 2007. According to the new rule, dearness allowance would be calculated at 78.2% and 30% of the basic salary and would be contributed towards superannuation benefits.

Source: The Indian Express, March 27, 2009. “Centre moves on 9% hike in basic pay of its PSU staff, gets EC’s clearance” Page no. 1

Labour-output ratio suggests poor use of labour in India

The labour-output ratio, which is the cost of labour to the value of production, of 1,544 big companies increased in 2007-08 over the last two years indicating poor utilisation of labour by corporates and leading to lower margins. Tata Tea, Mafatlal Industries, India Steel and Saurashtra Chemicals were observed to be good performers who spent more on labour per unit of output.

Source: The Financial Express, March 27, 2009. “India Inc’s use of labour poor in 2007-08” Page no. 8

Job scenario in India to improve after April 2009

According to the Commerce Secretary G K Pillai, the demand for goods in the US and Europe would pick up by May-June 2009. This would lead to good returns for exporters if India’s exports for the next fiscal touches $170 billion and as rupee continues to depreciate vis-à-vis the US dollar. Sectors like gems & jewellery, pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, plastics and chemicals would show recovery in 2009-10 leading to creation of employment opportunities.

Source: The Financial Express, March 27, 2009. “No job losses after Apr, exports growth to remain flat: Pillai” Page no. 4

Titan joins hands with CII for training jobless diamond workers

According to the industry, diamond trading has come to a virtual standstill as only 10% traders are active, rendering almost 2 lakh people unemployed. Corporate houses like Titan Limited who are in talks with the Confederation of Indian Industries, have decided to come to their rescue by providing them livelihood through training programmes, after which they would be recruited in the firm.

Source: Business Standard, March 26, 2009. “CII ropes in Titan to train laid-off workers” Page no.7

EPFO may offer 8.5% interest in 2009-10

By making an announcement of 8.5% interest to its subscribers, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization incurred a loss of Rs Rs 139-crore the last fiscal year. However it would easily be able to shell out interest at 8.5% to irs 4.41 crore depositors during 2009-10 and make a surplus of Rs 6.4 crore. Only if the interest rate is increased to 8.75% will they have to face losses of Rs 366.77 crores.

Source: The Economic Times, March 26, 2009. “EPFO can maintain 8.5 per cent interest payout in FY'10”

Workers on strike in Alang over reduction of wages

Almost 20000 workers of the Alang shipbreaking yard have gone on an indefinite strike to protest the reduction of wages from Rs 300 to Rs 240. Although the industry is understaffed and flooded with more than 100 ships for dismantling, it has decided to reduce wages and eliminate overtime wages because of the low prices of iron and other scrap material.

Source: The Times of India, March 25, 2009. “20,000 workers in Alang on strike to protest wage cut” Page no. 9

Govt employees involved in elections to receive higher allowances

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to increase the daily allowances of presiding officers, polling officers and Class IV employees from Rs 100 to Rs 250, Rs 75 to Rs 175 and Rs 50 to Rs 100 respectively. Moreover these 2,00,000 officers will also be provided with packet lunch or Rs 100 in cash, totalling the cost to Rs 20 crore on EC coffers.

Source: The Indian Express (Express Newsline), March 25, 2009. “EC raises daily allowance of govt employees on poll duty” Page no. 3

50% CEOs in India Inc are IIT/IIM pass-outs

A study on the educational qualifications of the leadership across 200 Indian companies has revealed that almost half of them are from premier institutes like IIMs and IITs. The study also reported IIM Ahmedabad to be producing the largest proportion of Chief Executives at a whopping 62%, followed by IIM Calcutta with 27%. Most of them are working in the financial services and manufacturing sector.

Source: The Financial Express, March 24, 2009. “Half of India Inc CEOs from IIT, IIM” Page no. 3

AFP placements hit by economic crisis

The Armed Forces Programme (AFP) is a six-month certificate course in business management conducted by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad for officers of the armed forces. The placement that ran for 12 days witnessed confirmed placements for 22 students, most of them recruited by Nisa Group of Companies, but 15 are still on the negotiating table. Of the remaining, 8 have decided to return to their previous employer and one has opted for entrepreneurship.

Source: DNA, March 24, 2009. “Slump blues hit AFP placements” Page no. 3

Unhappy IIM students looking for jobs online

Although the placements at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad have officially ended, 25 students from the institute are desperately seeking jobs at iimjobs.com. The job portal has received almost 260 resumes from the 2009 batch of institutes like IIMs, Indian Business School, Xaviers Labour Relations Institute, SP Jain and Faculty of Management Studies and 160 resumes are from non-IIM B-schools. Low salaries are also seen to be the reason behind their dissatisfaction.

Source: The Times of India (Ahmedabad Mirror), March 24, 2009. “IIM-A students hunting for jobs online” Page no. 2

SBI officers to go on strike for better pay

The officers of the State Bank of India have decided to go on a two-day nationwide strike from April 8 which would be extended to May if their demands are not met with. The officers have raised their voices to hire officers for the 10000 vacant positions across India. They have also presented their concern for improvement of pension scheme, revision of pay scales and regulated working hours.

Source: The Economic Times, March 24, 2009. “SBI officers to go on nationwide strike on Apr 8-9”

21% fall seen in salary offers made to IIM Indore students

The placement season at the Indian Institute of Management at Indore marked the presence of Virgin Mobile, Manipal Group, Punj Lloyd and Jindal Steel for the first time. The batch of 175 students had 126 recruiters on campus who offered pay packages of Rs 10.29 lakh as compared to Rs 13.75 lakh that was made last year resulting in a drop of 21%.

Source: Mint, March 16, 2009. “IIM Indore salary dips 21% to Rs10.29 lakh”

All students of IIM-L get successfully placed

Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow witnessed the presence of 105 companies in its placement process, out of which 14 were PSUs, including NTPC, SAIL, GAIL and Coal India and 15 overseas companies. With 284 job offers, the institute made it among the largest placement process across all the premier business schools. Out of the 267 students to be placed, 25 had accepted Pre-Placement Offers and 48 students got recruited through Higher Entry Placement Process.

Source: The Times of India, March 23, 2009. “IIM Lucknow claims cent per cent placement” Page no. 11

Locals in Gujarat upset over govt’s exemption to Tata Nano project

The Nano project, which is being setup by Tata Motors Ltd. on the Sanand-Viramgam Highway, has disappointed the local people as it offers chances of employment to those hired from Singur. This is due to an exemption from the government in the law which provides for 85% of the jobs reserved for locals. According to the people, there has been considerable discontent due to the failure to provide jobs to the locals.

Source: DNA, March 23, 2009. “Locals want jobs in Nano project” Page no. 7

High wages could trigger inflation in rural India

With states like Rajasthan and Haryana almost doubling the minimum wages for the labourers under the flagaship rural job guarantee scheme, commodity prices are expected to surge and the rural economy is bound to receive the tide of inflation. Moreover, it could also deprive the workforce of projects outside the scheme. Officials suggest that they need to devise a technique that provides work to the unemployed and offers a pay enough for sustenance.

Source: The Economic Times, March 23, 2009. “High wages for rural jobs under flagship scheme may fuel inflation” Page no. 9

Yogkshem Foundation challenges the government’s exploitative strategy

Yogkshem Foundation for Human Dignity has challenged Gujarat government’s decision to recruit young people on fixed salary for fixed time frame of 5 years terming the move unlawful and unfair. The Lok Rakshaks, Vidhya Sahayaks and Gram Mitras working in the department receive wages between Rs 2,500 to Rs 1,000 without any increment. The petition suggested that they should also get benefits available under the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970.

Source: The Indian Express (Express Newsline), March 21, 2009. “State govt’s move to recruit people on fixed salary reaches court again” Page no. 2

Laid-off Indian migrants to the US set to return back to India

Consultants like Abhay Vakil, Mumbai-based immigration expert, have been receiving queries from recession-hit Indians in the United States, particularly H-1B workers, about the formalities of migrating back to India. Many of them are seeking information to start their own business in states like Gujarat that has lucrative offers for entrepreneurship and are expected to return by the end of 2009 or early 2010.

Source: DNA, March 21, 2009. “Laid-off US-NRIs may grab your jobs” Page no. 1

New pension scheme to be launched in June due to elections

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority has deferred its activities for the launch of the New Pension scheme for non-govt employees in the wake of general elections; inspite of finalizing six fund managers and 23 points of presence to collect contributions from investors. This scheme will allow the designated fund managers – Life Insurance Corporation, UTI and State Bank of India – to invest 15 per cent in equities and non-government investors would be allowed upto 100% investment in debt or equities.

Source:  Business Standard, March 20, 2009. “Regulator defers launch of pension scheme” Page no. 6

Agriculture can help improve the employment scenario of India

The Economic Cooperation and Development recently reported agricultural production and agro-food trade to be growing rapidly in countries like India, one of the net exporters. Employment opportunities can be increased if import tariffs on these products are reduced and Bharat Nirman scheme which focuses on expansion of irrigation area, improved water management, support for rural roads, housing, electrification, telecommunication, research and diversification of economic activities, are implemented.

Source: The Financial Express, March 19, 2009. “Agri still plays vital role in providing jobs: OECD” Page no. 8

Employment plans in India need more commitment from the government

Although the government is taking initiative in programmes like NREGA, which guarantees 100 days employment with Rs 60 as daily wages, it still needs to come up with an ideal role model to resolve problems of poverty and increase its skilled workforce from 5% to 50%. Despite of laying heavy thrusts, it has witnessed a growth of mere 2.3% in employment with -0.7% and 0.14% growth in public and private sectors.

Source: The Times of India, March 19, 2009. “Vacant: Ideas to create jobs” Page no. 2

Gujarat Industries bracing up themselves to discuss wage hike with govt

Industries in Gujarat have received a second blow with the government having released the minimum wages for its 49 labour categories. Already coping up with the pressure of the economic meltdown, they suggest that the government should postpone the decision for 30% hike in the wages or else they would resort to job cuts for making up the burden of Rs 3200 crore.

Source: The Economic Times, March 19, 2009. “Industry bodies to take up wage hike issue with state” Page no.2

Industrial strikes and lockouts decrease by 50%

Inspite of crisis in the economy which could have led to labour unrest on wage negotiations, almost 15% and 80% fall was recorded in the number of labour strikes and management lockouts for the period of January-November 2008 in India. Many officials hold the absence of trade unions in industries and diversion of the employees towards job security to be the reason behind the slide in the figures.

Source: The Economic Times, March 18, 2009. “2008 peaceful for industry as strikes & lockouts halve” Page no. 7

Regulator gets an approval for launch of pension scheme

The Election Commission has finally given a nod to the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority for marketing the new pension scheme. This scheme which was initially offered only to individuals joining the central government will now be extended to the private and unorganized sector too. It will have 23 entities like banks, life insurance companies and asset management companies acting as points as presence for its distribution.

Source: The Indian Express, March 18, 2009. “Regulator seeks CEC nod to market pension scheme” Page no. 14

Diamond industry asks Centre to provide meal scheme for workers

The Diamond Industry has recently suggested the central government to cover its workers under the food security scheme for atleast six months. Owing to the significant contribution received from them, the industry in collaboration with diamond mining companies and Gem and Jewellery National Relief Foundation, distributed Rs1.80 crore towards school fees of children of diamond workers covering 1309 schools in the state.

Source: DNA, March 17, 2009. “Include workers under food security scheme” Page no. 6

Infrastructure firms on cost reduction spree

With the fall in demand for its real estate projects in the last few months, the Human Resource departments of the infrastructure companies are chalking out ways to reduce its cost by banning recruitment and freezing salaries. Besides slowing down on their expansion plans, they are also cutting down employee benefits like conveyance allowance, accommodation allowance and other expenses like marketing activities, power, electricity, mobile and telephone.

Source: The Financial Express, March 17, 2009. “HR teams in infra cos sweat it out to devise effective cost-control measures” Page no. 4

Women workforce in Gujarat are adversely affected by recession

With the global meltdown having taken its toll on the women dominated industries like material, construction, garment, agricultural labour, small scale industry, iron furnaces, steel and aluminum utensils manufacturing units, textile and power loom sector, small spinning and weaving industries, many of them have lost their livelihood. Lack of working capital, fall in the prices and demand of the products have made it extremely difficult for them to get even 10 days work.

Source: The Indian Express (Express Newsline), March 16, 2009. “Economic meltdown hits state women workforce harder” Page no. 2

Indian companies adopt conservatism approach towards bonus

Gripped by the fear of not being able to serve higher number of equity shares, many companies in India are not likely to offer bonus equity. To conserve as much cash as is possible in times of economic meltdown, only 54 companies have declared bonus for 2008-09. Although a decline of 24% was recorded in this number, but most of them declared bonuses in October 2008.

Source: The Financial Express (Corporates & Markets), March 14, 2009. “Economic turmoil dents bonus issue declarations” Page no 8

Average income of wage earners in India slides by 3.45%

In the wake of recession, average income of the employees of labour-intensive sectors has suffered a drop of 3.45% in the third quarter of 2008-2009. The Ministry of Labour and Employment reported that about half a million workers lost their jobs during October-December 2008. The International Labour Office expects slow growth, a highly volatile food and energy crisis, leading to erosion of real wages of world’s 1.5 billion wage earners.

Source: Business Standard, March 13, 2009. “Earnings of workers went down by 3.45% in Q3: Govt” Page No. 4

Central govt to increase funds to boost rural employability

With the rate of jobless people scaling higher in the construction sector, the Centre has decided to increase funds for rural areas from Rs 30100 crore to Rs 40100 crore. These funds are based on the inputs provided by the gram panchayats in the labour budget regarding the infrastructure projects and their labour demand.

Source: The Economic Times, March 11, 2009. “More funds likely for rural jobs” Page No. 7

India leads in Net Employment outlook (NEO) survey

In a study conducted across 33 countries, India was reported to be having highest net employment outlook (NEO) of 25% in the quarter of April-June. Although this rate was 42% in the second quarter of 2008, it lowered due to economic downturn. Service sector emerged as the most optimistic segment with 29% of NEO followed by transportation & utilities, manufacturing, public administration & education, insurance, finance and real estate.

Source: The Economic Times, March 11, 2009. “India tops in hiring plans” Page No. 11

Margins of IT firms expected to fall due to onsite job cuts

Many IT firms like TCS, Wipro and Infosys are reducing their onsite staff to lower costs. But this might lead to a fall of 5-7% in the profit margins of these companies as onsite projects and revenue account for almost 40-50% of the industry’s revenue. It’s only if the outsourcing deals increase that the negative impact can be neutralized.

Source: The Times of India, March 11, 2009. “Shrinking onsite staff hits IT cos' margins” Page No. 13

Single-digit increments for employees of Indian pharma companies

Evading job cuts in times of global crisis, the Indian pharmaceutical industry is soon set to have 2%-5% increments for its staff at the middle level unlike previous year’s figure of 10%-20% and medical representatives expect a hike of 10%. The badly hit overseas operations and export revenues of these firms have prompted the move where the top management has got 0% hikes.

Source: The Economic Times, March 10, 2009. “Pharma units set for low increments this year” Page No. 2

IIMs to analyze and improve their placement strategies

In a bid to have a better ratio of placement offers, the Indian Institutes of Management may reduce the participation fees of Day Zero which marks the presence of top companies. They also aim to elongate the duration of the placement season to over a week or fortnight so that all companies have a better chance to pick up students.

Source: Business Standard, March 10, 2009. “IIMs to review placement plans” Page No. 1

Agarbatti industry comes to the rescue of jobless diamond workers

The Agarbatti industry in Ahmedabad which has a workforce of 20000 people is providing employment to workers laid-off from the diamond industry. The employees not only get the benefit of working from home, but many have been able to start their own businesses after receiving the industrial training. According to the Gujarat Agarbatti Manufacturers and Dealers Association, a reduction in VAT charges could further help in improving the prospects of the industry.

Source: DNA, March 9, 2009. “Agarbatti is forever” Page No. 3

Govt set to put a curb on salaries of top financial executives

With an aim to remove unrealistic target linked incentives that may put pressure on the executives of credit rating agencies, stock exchanges and clearing corporations to maximize profits through unethical means, the Indian government has decided to curb their salaries. The idea is to prevent a Wall Street-like crash while fostering healthy competition.

Source: The Economic Times, March 9, 2009. “Govt may leash pay of financial top dogs” Page No. 1

Telcon comes up with a new wage reduction formula to fight recession

According to a new wage deal at Telco Construction Equipment Company Ltd, it would not have any job cuts for its employees if they are ready to sacrifice a part of their salary for a fall in its net profits. With Rs 324 crore as the benchmark, every officer would have pay cuts of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 a month if the net profit dips by 90%.

Source: The Financial Express, March 9, 2009. “Telcon designs novel wage cut formula to combat slowdown” Page No. 1

IIM-A student keen to enter politics

Refusing offers from global firms, Srijan Pal Singh of IIM Ahmedabad has decided to join politics by making an online application on the Congress party’s website and lobbying in the political corridors of Delhi. His interest can be associated with his work in Public Policy Group course at IIM-A, which also led to the development of an information and communication technology system under which citizens in several constituencies could register their complaints with their respective MPs.

Source: Business Standard, March 7, 2009. “IIM-A student chooses politics over placements” Page No. 16

Only the fittest can battle the economic slowdown: TeamLease survey

A national survey conducted by TeamLease shows that 80% employees believe in honing their skills to save their jobs. Although 52% of the respondents have opted for alternative sources of income and 27% of them have changed their financial planning, 43% feel that their company is stable. Many of them agreed that the responsibilities had increased and almost half of them had to change the department or sector itself to retain jobs.

Source: Aayanbayaan.com, March 3, 2009. “Survival of the fittest”

Job openings for executives plummet by 50%

A survey done by Gallup on behalf of Executives Recruiters Association (ERA) has found that companies have brought in more stability and less attrition in internal staffing, resulting in lesser recruitment of executives. In order to survive the economic crisis, many companies are moving cautiously while expansion plans are on hold; resulting in a drop of 50%, 23% and 21% in the senior, middle and junior level positions.

Source: The Hindustan Times, March 3, 2009. “Executive hirings to drop 50% this year”

Finance and banking jobs still in demand at IIM A placements

The elongated recruitment season at IIM Ahmedabad ended on Thursday with a majority of the students applying for finance and banking jobs. Although the economy is reeling under the pressure of recession, the placements had witnessed the presence of 109 firms, including international companies, but with fewer offers and pay packages of Rs 1 crore.

Source: The Times of India, March 6, 2009. “IIM-A grads still opt for finance, banking jobs”

Page No. 7

‘Sarkari’ job a huge hit at IIM A placements

At IIM A placements, PSU banks like Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and companies like Indian Oil Corporation Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, which were less preferred earlier, have managed to recruit 41 students from a total of 235 at senior level positions. With the slowdown in economy, more students settled for secure domestic jobs and few were seen taking up entrepreneurship.

Source: The Times of India, March 6, 2009. “PSUs a big draw at IIM-A placements”

Page No. 1

Average salary slides by 30% at IIM A placements

Due to the ongoing recession, average domestic and international salaries plummeted to Rs 12.17 lakh and Rs 41.5 lakh respectively at the placement season of IIM Ahmedabad. Of 109 firms present, 25 were new ones. Prominent recruiters at the occasion were Bain & Company, McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, TAS, Frost & Sullivan, Jaypee Capital, Unicon Securities, Alcatel-Lucent, IOCL, STCI, Sebi, IFCI, BPCL and ICRA. Few students were also seen signing-up with film production houses and NGOs.

Source: The Economic Times, March 6, 2009. “IIM-A grads’ average salaries drop 30%”

44000 employees of Central PSUs lost their jobs in 2007-08

Central Public Sector Enterprises have been slashing jobs of their staff in spite of making a profit of Rs 91,140 crore in the last fiscal year. The staff has been reduced from 16.14 lakh in 2006-07 to 15.7 lakh employees currently. The 48th Public Enterprises Survey 2007-08 reported that the increased wage bill of Rs 64,306 crore could have been the reason behind this move.

Source: The Financial Express, March 4, 2009. “Central PSUs shed 44k staff in 2007-08”

Page No. 2

Indian workers proud and confident about their jobs

According to Kelly Global Workforce Index that surveyed nearly 100,000 people in 34 countries, 62% of Indian workforce between 18-65 years give priority to productive work over salary and position. This ratio, higher in India than other countries, also suggests shows that the older the employee, the more willing he is to hop jobs. Also, males are more likely to be concerned about career prospects and look for alternative work in larger numbers.

Source: The Financial Express, March 4, 2009. “Job satisfaction comes first, say Indians”

Page No. 2

Satyam employees to have performance-linked salaries

With an aim to rebuild the organization and optimize costs, 25 per cent of the variable salary of Satyam employees will constitute fixed pay and the rest would be linked to the firm’s revenue from April, 2009. This would be applicable on the associates whose man hour is billed according to specified milestones.

Source: Business Standard, March 4, 2009. “Satyam to bring in revenue-linked allowances”

Page No. 3

Recession-hit Thomas Cook shuts retail outlets and lays off employees

India’s largest travel- related service provider, Thomas Cook has laid off 7% of its staff and shut 32 retail outlets in 2008 to overcome a fall of 22 per cent in its annual profit. According to the officials, who expect leisure travel for the summer season of 2009 to pick up to the level of 2007, the jobs were slashed only after clearing the staff dues.

Source: Business Standard, March 4, 2009. “Thomas Cook cuts staff, shuts retail outlets to save cost”

Page No. 5

Job cuts 3rd highest in Ahmedabad on a national scale

The national survey conducted by Team Lease Services Private Limited, covering 350 employees and HR personnel between the age group 22–45 years, reveals that lay offs in Ahmedabad were the highest after Mumbai and Delhi. 43% of the respondents in Ahmedabad and Delhi claimed that they were retrenched due to recession. Retrenchment was observed to be higher in the departments of Sales, Marketing, Business Development and Operations.

Source: Business Standard, March 4, 2009. “Ahmedabad sees highest retrenchment after Delhi, Mumbai: Study”

Page No. 7

Joining date of campus hires deferred as L&T Info waits to settle Satyam issue

Citing economic downturn, L&T Infotech, subsidiary of engineering major L&T, has deferred the recruitment of 1000 campus hires to the third quarter of 2009. Not only the students from 300 colleges are in a dilemma but sources reveal that the acquisition of Satyam by L&T could mean few of its current staff being handed over the pink slip as well

Source: The Financial Express, March 3, 2009. “L&T Info tells campus hires to look out” Page No. 1

IIM A students go through the longest placements ever

The recruitment phase which concluded on Tuesday was the longest ever and witnessed the presence of Singapore Airlines, SIDBI and SEBI at IIM Ahmedabad .Out of 50 students sitting in the interviews on the last day, 30 are expected to be left without job offers in their hands. The average salaries are expected to slide down substantially from the Rs 17.8 lakh offered last year.

Source: The Times of India, March 3, 2009. “30 IIM A students yet to be placed” Page No. 7

In times of recession, DRL on recruitment drive

Drug-maker Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL), which has already hired almost 2000 people in sales, quality, manufacturing, production, R&D, process management and engineering services, is likely to continue the process despite the economic slowdown. Showing great resilience, DRL with a 58.61% growth in its net profit, justified the hiring process in the face of international competition in spite of the not-so stellar growth of the pharmaceutical sector.

Source: The Economic Times, March 3, 2009. “DRL hires 2,000 despite slowdown” Page No. 14

Negligence cited the root cause for 550 vacant posts in IPS

It is sheer negligence of the govt that has led to the shortage of 557 officers in the Indian Police Service. The Centre’s decision to have 36 IPS officers for recruitment annually for four years against the projected number of 85 generated a shortfall of 557 officers since 1998. The recently appointed committee under Kamal Kumar is expected to review the matter and resolve the problem.

Source: The Indian Express, March 2, 2009. “Over 550 posts vacant in IPS, Govt blames NDA 'neglect'” Page No. 1

Tech giant Hewlett-Packard to reduce employee salaries

Following the footsteps of Wipro and Infosys, technology giant Hewlett-Packard, with a workforce of 60000 in India, plans to slash employee compensation by 2% to 2.5% to cope up with the fall in its net profits for the first quarter. This move, in lieu of job cuts, will not be applied on 3000-plus employees of the Electronic Data Systems Corp (EDS), who were moved to MphasiS after EDS was merged with the former.

Source: Business Standard, March 2, 2009. “HP paycuts not to affect most ex-EDS staff” Page No. 4

Firms to share health insurance cover with employees

Large corporations which make contributions of about 45% of the total healthcare insurance premium now plan to share the cost with their employees to cut down expenditure. The cost, which has jumped by 15-20% in the past 12 months, is borne by the staff either equally or in different ratios. Also, since parental claims account for 60% of all employee claims, the firms have now decided to increase employee participation as a cost-cutting exercise.

Source: The Economic Times, March 2, 2009. “Cos now want employees to share health insurance bills” Page No. 15

 

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