HR Articles: Jan-12 (Part-4)

For more article, Visit at : www.amreshanjan.co.cc World Bank Upbeat On India's Long-Term Job Outlook A World Bank report said India will account for around 8.5 lakh new entrants into the job market each month by 2030. Around 10 lakh to 12 lakh new jobs will be created monthly by then in eight South Asian countries, which include India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives and Afghanistan. The report explores constraints on job creation in the "urban formal sector" in South Asia which primarily includes electricity, corruption and political instability. In India, the list reads tax administration, electricity and corruption. Separately, a United Nations report on World Economic Situation and Prospects 2012 highlights the growing problem of unemployment among youth. It estimates the global employment deficit to be a staggering 64 million in 2011. This is likely to deteriorate further to 71 million, given the global economic slowdown and growth of the workforce. Source : 17-01-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Attrition At Wipro Lowest In Eight Quarters Attrition at Wipro dropped 14.2 percent in the last quarter, its lowest in eight quarters. The company's executive vice-president Pratik Kumar said "New leadership and new structures have brought down the attrition rate. We conducted an employee perception survey inside the company, where we got a massive response from 75,000 employees." There was a 20 percent improvement in attributes such as quality of leadership, quality of organisation, diversity, sustainability, team work, long-term direction and other criteria. Also, employees are being given the freedom to suggest ideas. "Once you open up people's mind, what you get to see is amazing," Wipro CEO TK Kurien said Source : 20-01-12   Financial Chronicle   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Fortune Magazine States That Google Is The Best Company To Work For Fortune magazine has named Google as the best company to work for in 2012 among 100 firms. The search giant climbed three spots in Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list. From revenue, profits, share price, paid search clicks, hiring to also employee love, everything was up for Google when compared to last year, Fortune said. Employees rave about their mission, the culture and the famous perks of the Plex: bocce courts, a bowling alley, eyebrow shaping (for a fee) in the New York office, according to the magazine. Boston Consulting Group, which invests 100-plus hours and thousands of dollars to recruit each consultant, was at second rank. Mercedes-Benz US was placed 12, DreamWorks Animation 14, Goldman Sachs 33, Adobe 65, Intel 46, Starbucks 73 and Microsoft 76. Source : 20-01-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan India Scores Over China In Nurturing Leadership A study has found India to be ahead of China when it comes to nurturing leadership talents. Indian businesses were also better at identifying/developing future talents, the study added. The study by talent management firm DDI, called Leadership at the Future's Edge, covered 2,600 companies in 74 countries. It found 60 percent or more of the Indian leaders to be more effective than their Chinese counterparts in five critical skills required for successful leadership. About 76 percent Indian leaders were better at identifying and developing future leaders compared to 56 percent of their Chinese counterparts. About 51 percent of Indian leaders were satisfied with the current quality of leadership, compared to a mere 38 percent of their counterparts in China. China scored better on retention, with a 59 percent rate compared to India's 49 percent. Source : 22-01-12   Financial Chronicle   Compiled by Amresh Anjan India Ranks Sixth On GE's Innovation Barometer A survey has ranked India as the sixth most "innovative" country in the world. The respondents included 2,800 senior business executives in 22 countries, including 200 in India. The top enablers of innovation were talent ("creative" talent and people with technical expertise), financial support from public authorities and long-term support from investors, as per GE's Annual Global Innovation Barometer. Around 65 percent of the global respondents identified the U.S. as an "innovation champion", followed by Germany (48 percent), Japan (45 percent), China (38 percent), Korea (13 percent) and India (12 percent). Only 12 percent of the global respondents identified India among the top three innovation champions, compared to 23 percent of Indian respondents. However, intellectual property protection and research and development partnerships with academic universities were cited as key challenges in creating an innovation-friendly environment in the country. Source : 22-01-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan R.V Kanoria Takes Over As FICCI President R V Kanoria, chairman and managing director of Kanoria Chemicals and Industries, has taken over as president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). He has taken over this post from Harsh Mariwala. Naina Lal Kidwai, executive director on the board of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. and country head, HSBC India, was elected senior vice-president of the chamber and Sidharth Birla, chairman of Xpro India, was elected as vice-president Source : 19-01-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan World Needs 600 Mn New Jobs In The Next Decade: International Labour Organization International Labour Organization sounded the alarm on the global jobs situation in its annual report and called for more coordination of fiscal policies, repair and regulation of the financial sector and support for the real economyThe ILO says there are nearly 200 million unemployed and that another 40 million jobs need to be created each year for the next decade. The report added that "To generate sustainable growth while maintaining social cohesion, the world must rise to the urgent challenge of creating 600 million productive jobs over the next decade, which would still leave 900 million workers living with their families below the $2 a day poverty line, largely in developing countries". Even under fairly benign conditions such as a quick resolution of the euro debt crisis, the ILO expects global unemployment to be stuck at about 6 per cent until at least 2016. The data was based on figures for mid- or end-2011 for most countries, although ILO officials use their own estimates for the two biggest countries, China and India. Source : 24-01-12   IBN Live.com   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Toyota Cutting 350 Jobs In Australia Toyota Motor Corp is cutting 350 jobs at its Australian manufacturing operations due to an ongoing downturn in production levels, a rare move from the Japanese auto giant. Toyota Australia president Max Yasuda said the strength of the Australian dollar, which has traded at record highs above parity with the US dollar over the past year, was party to blame for the move.Toyota, which employs around 4,700 people in Australia, had seen vehicle production drop 36% in four years, from 149,000 in 2007 to an expected 95,000 in 2012."The reality is that our volumes are down. What we assumed was a temporary circumstance has turned into a permanent situation," Mr. Yasuda said in a statement. Source : 23-01-12   Hindustan Times   Compiled by Amresh Anjan DLF Brands Names Operations & Strategy Head DLF Brands Ltd has announced that Dipak Agarwal would take over as the Chief Executive, Operations and Strategy for the brand. He has been associated with DLF Brands Ltd since its formation in 2008 as CFO and has tremendously contributed in the growth and success of the organization ever since. He has played a key role in facilitating the entry of international brands like DKNY, Boggi Milano, Mango, Sunglass Hut, ELC, Mothercare and Alcott to India. Source : 20-01-12   Exchange4media   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Offers Outnumber Students At BIT Mesra Placements at Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, got off to a flying start with two students receiving offers of Rs 56 lakh a year from software giant Microsoft. Almost 80 percent students have bagged jobs and the average annual salary has crossed the Rs 5.5 lakh mark, up from Rs 4.3 lakh last year. Around 1,200 students who will be graduating have received around 1,500 job offers from 65 reputable companies during the season which started in December. Cognizant, IBM, Wipro, Goldman Sachs, Deloitte and Yahoo were among the recruiters. The hiring suggests a surge in the software sector, with core engineering and automobile sectors also doing well. "It spells great news for our students enrolled in different undergraduate and postgraduate courses at BIT Mesra," said Prabhat Pankaj, assistant training and placement officer. The season will be on till April-May. Source : 19-01-12   The Telegraph   Compiled by Amresh Anjan U.S. Manufacturers Moved High-Tech Jobs Overseas The U.S. National Science Board said the country has lost more than a quarter of its manufacturing jobs as domestic companies shift their R&D overseas. The number of high-tech manufacturing jobs in the U.S. has declined by 687,000, or 28 percent between 2000 and 2010, according to the report. Although the trend is often attributed to the cheaper wages in developing countries, China and other countries in Asia have attracted more sophisticated manufacturing operations and better jobs in recent years by expanding their engineering prowess through government investment in education and research. Since the start of 2010, manufacturing employment has grown 2.9 percent in the U.S. compared to 2.4 percent in Germany and 1.9 percent in Canada. Source : 20-01-12   Hindustan Times   Compiled by Amresh Anjan IT And ITES Sector Likely To Give Single-Digit Pay Hikes Salary increments in the IT and ITES sector are likely to take a hit amid the uncertainty, with experts predicting only mid- to high single-digit increases. Increments were 11 percent to 15 percent last year. "In all likelihood, wage hikes will be in higher single digits next year and not in double digits. This is likely to happen for the whole industry," said V Balakrishnan, CFO of Infosys. These single-digit hikes will be reserved only for top performers. Average performers may not get a raise at all this year. "Hikes will be limited to 10 percent at best for top performers and those who are not amongst the top will not get hikes at all," says Sangeeta Lala of staffing firm TeamLease Services. The results of other IT companies in the coming days will perhaps give a clearer picture about salary increases in 2012. Source : 17-01-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Talent Crunch Putting Brakes On E-Commerce Manpower crunch is becoming an obstacle in the growth of the e-commerce industry. Lack of talent and high attrition are issues that firms have to deal with. Take the case of online shopping site Tradus.in: Despite the company having several openings, it ends up turning down most candidates. Reason: rigid job requirements and finding the talent with relevant Internet experience, says Managing Director Krishna Motukuri. Lack of specialised courses for the sector is adding to the problem. Ashish Arora, founder and managing director, HR Anexi says, "E-commerce is the fastest-growing industry. Yet, there still appear to be very few courses available at the college or university level. This reduces the talent pool to choose from at the first stage itself." He adds that organizations ought to plan talent retention even before talent acquisition. It is important to map competencies, employee needs and workshops to upgrade skills. Source : 17-01-12   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Bored Employees Develop Unhealthy Habits: A Study In UK A team from the University of Central Lancashire which looked at over 100 office workers in the UK found that when bored at work, most of them looked to munchies and caffeinated beverages to perk them up.They are also more likely to hit a bar once they punch the clock, researchers said. "We found that it's a mix between the demands of the job and the person's personality that contributes to if you are going to be bored or not," lead researcher Sandi Mann said. About 25 per cent of the participants of the survey indicated that they were bored most of the time. Those suffering from chronic boredom suffered more stress, remained more absent and developed a desire to quit. Almost 80 percent felt that being bored at work made them lose concentration, and more than 50 per cent felt it led them to making mistakes. About a third turned to alcohol at the end of a boring day. Source : 16-01-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan New CEO For Camson Bio Tech Camson Bio Technologies has appointed Mr. Santosh Nair as Chief Executive Officer of the company. In a release to the stock exchanges, the company said he is a science graduate with advance degrees in management from NMIMS and has 19 years of banking industry experience. Source : 16-01-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan TCS To Continue Hiring Spree Despite Economic Slowdown Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) has offered jobs to 43,600 students through campus recruitment who will join in 2012-13. The number, the highest ever for the company, may be an indication that volume growth may make a comeback towards the latter half of 2012.India's largest information technology (IT) services company by revenue, which had 226,751 people on its rolls as on 31 December, had made 38,000 campus offers for the current fiscal year. Typically, about 70% of all campus offers are accepted.TCS had said it would hire 60,000 staff for this fiscal year; it has hired 51,000 people so far and is likely to add another 15,000 in the current quarter. Source : 19-01-12   Livemint   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

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HR Articles: Jan-12 (Part-3)

For more article, Visit at : www.amreshanjan.co.cc 83% MBA's Prefer Job Profile Than Hefty Package Over 83 per cent of B-School graduates in India were willing to forego a hefty pay package for a job profile of their preference, said an Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) survey.Most of the B-school students participating in the Assocham survey answered that a job profile of their preference would help them in their long term career. These future industry managers prefer work profile combined with the growth opportunities, resisting tempting salary offers. Surprisingly only four per cent of students opted for fat salary packets over a good job profile. Factors like a desire for a higher standard of living, family expectations and responsibilities, compulsion to pay hefty amount of education loans, to save for investment in entrepreneurial ventures have conventionally drawn MBA graduates toward high paying jobs. But the survey indicated that things seem to have changed with preferences changing for future growth than rather present rewards. Source : 17-01-12   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan IT Hiring May Look Up Again On Infosys Cue Infosys' financial results indicate a decline in hiring of 38 percent year-on-year for the quarter ended December. The company had a gross hiring of 9,665 in Q3. In the September quarter, it had hired 15,352 employees. In this quarter, Infosys lost 6,389 during the quarter, the net addition thus being 3,266 employees. Campus recruitment also fell, with the company hiring only 5,792 freshers for the quarter ending December, compared to 13,034 freshers for the September quarter. Although the figures point to a decline, industry experts say quarterly fluctuation is no indication of slowdown in recruitment. Infosys maintained that it was on track to fulfill its target of hiring 45,000 persons this fiscal. It also plans to hire 500 employees in the U.S. in the last quarter of the current financial year. Source : 12-01-12   Deccan Herald   Compiled by Amresh Anjan HUL Most Preferred Recruiter – Says A Survey A C Nielsen's the Campus Track survey pointed out that 36 percent of B-school graduates prefer to work with consumer goods firms, followed by management consultancies 29 per cent, IT consultancy or services 20 percent and investment banking 20 per cent. "With the FMCG (consumer goods) growth in the country being driven by consumption, the sector continues to find favour with students who see it as a sector with huge growth potential," Nielsen Executive Director Dinesh Kapoor said. Hindustan Unilever emerged as the most preferred recruiter, followed by Google, Aditya Birla Group, Accenture and McKinsey. The average salary expectation from a "dream company" was Rs 16 lakh per annum, the same as last year.survey of business graduates has found the consumer goods sector the sector that the class of 2012 preferred most. Source : 10-01-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Survey: Major Cities May See Fall In Hiring Recruitment levels are expected to fall across major cities, with the exception of Delhi, as per the Employment Outlook Survey by staffing company TeamLease Services. The decline was the sharpest (by up to 10 points) in financial and IT hubs such as Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune. On the other hand, Delhi recorded an increase in hiring and lower attrition rates. The upward trend was also noted in Hyderabad and Chennai. "Our assessment is that corporates would prefer to exercise caution in hiring than lay off employees," said Sangeeta Lala, senior vice-president and co-founder, permanent and temporary hiring, TeamLease. The survey also recorded a positive trend in the emergence of new subsectors and the requirement of knowledge-based talent in the existing industry sectors. Source : 10-01-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan EPFO Mulls Interest Rate Cut To 8.6% The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) may lower the interest rate on deposits to 8.6 per cent for over 4.7 crore subscribers for 2011-12 to match it with the rate of Public Provident Fund (PPF) scheme. EPFO had given 9.5 percent for 2010-11 after it found Rs 1,731 crore surplus in its books of account. It may now lower the rate to 8.6 percent. The Labour Ministry is expected to send a note shortly to the Finance Ministry, recommending an 8.6 per cent rate of interest on provident fund deposits to EPFO subscribers for this fiscal as provided under the PPF scheme. The ministry wants to bring EPFO's rate of return at par with the PPF rate. Source : 10-01-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan BAML Shuffle May See 15 Asia Managing Directors Exit Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) is planning to let go of 15 of its managing directors in Asia as part of a reshuffle. The lay-offs are the result of performance reviews at the end of 2011, and part of the wider shake-up in Asia under its corporate and investment banking chief Matthew Koder, who joined BAML from UBS last March. Michael Cho, co-head of Asian mergers and acquisitions division, will be leaving the firm. Bala Swaminathan, vice-chairman at the bank's investment banking unit, who joined in 2010, will also be leaving as mergers and acquisitions dry up. Source : 10-01-12   Financial Chronicle   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Tata AMC Equities Co-head Quits Venugopal Manghat, co-head of equities at Tata Asset Management left the organisation to pursue other interests. Bhupinder Sethi, who was earlier co-head equities, will now be head-equities of Tata Mutual Fund. Source : 10-01-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Anand Rathi Hires Former U.S. Treasury Exec Privately held investment banking firm Anand Rathi has appointed Anil Kakani as an executive director of cross-border initiatives. He will work along with investment banking CEO, Praveen Chakravarty. Mr. Kakani was part of the Obama administration and worked in a senior position in the U.S. Treasury Department. He was involved in building the U.S.-India Economic and Financial Partnership. Anand Rathi is backed by Citi Venture Capital International. Source : 11-01-12   VC Circle   Compiled by Amresh Anjan IIT's Defy Slowdown; IIM's Face Tough Times The economic downturn seems to have bypassed the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), with recruiters flocking to their campuses with meaty offers. IIT Madras has placed 63 percent of the 1,208-strong batch, while IIT Kanpur has placed almost a thousand. Packages have also increased with Pocket Gems, a U.S.-based mobile app developer, paying $140,000 to an IIT Kanpur student. Google and Facebook have made similar offers. More than 85 companies visited IIT Guwahati. "Compared with last year, there is definitely an increase in terms of the number of organisations visiting in December itself for recruitment and the average package being offered," said Siddharth Mukherjee, general secretary, placements. The Indian Institutes of Management, however, are bracing for a tough placement season and are approaching a greater number of companies, besides offering placement holidays to students. Source : 11-01-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan WEF Warns Of Fiscal Risks, Income Inequalities A World Economic Forum (WEF) report has warned that rising income inequality and fiscal imbalances are two major risks that are set to undo the benefits of globalization. Nationalism, populism and protectionism were being fuelled globally by "chronic" fiscal imbalances and "severe" income inequality, as the world adjusted to new economic realities. The WEF identified 50 global risks, including economic, environmental, societal, technological and geopolitical, putting fiscal troubles and inequality at the top of the list. Fast-growing economies, including India and the other BRIC nations, were particularly vulnerable, with the countries being less likely to seize the opportunities presented by relatively young labour forces. "Rapid economic growth in emerging economies has fuelled an impatient expectation that a rising tide will lift all boats, but social contracts may not be forged quickly enough to rectify increasingly visible economic inequalities and social inequalities." Source : 11-01-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Mindshare Picks Client Leadership Team Mindshare has set up a new management structure and made key appointments. The client leadership team will be headed by M. Parthasarathy while Alok Sinha will oversee strategy. Sandeep Pandey will head consulting and intelligence. Source : 11-01-12   Exchange4media   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Samsung India Appoints MD & CEO Samsung India Electronics has appointed BD Park as managing director, president and CEO of its South-West Asia operations, Financial Chronicle reports. Mr. Park, who was heading the mobile and IT division at Samsung India, replaces Jung Shoo Shin, who was president and CEO for the region. Source : 10-01-12   Financial Chronicle   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Mahindra Announces Rejig Of Top Management The Mahindra and Mahindra group appointed Pravin Shah as chief executive of its automotive division, who would assume charge Feb 1. In a statement, the group said Mr. Shah, chief executive for international operations of the automotive and farm equipment sector, is being succeeded by Ruzbeh Irani, executive vice president, corporate strategy and chief brand officer. Source : 13-01-12   Hindustan Times   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Professional Tax May Be Raised Three-Fold The government is planning to increase the professional tax levied by states three-fold, Business Standard reports. It is seeking an amendment to the Constitution to provide for increase from the current Rs 2,500 per annum to Rs 8,500 a year. Under the Constitution, state legislatures are free to decide the tax amount, subject to a ceiling of Rs 2,500. It was last increased from Rs 250 a year in 1988. Some states have now proposed to the finance ministry to increase the limit to Rs 8,500. The ministry has invited comments from various stakeholders. Once the matter is decided by the Empowered Committee, it will require the Cabinet's approval to table a constitutional amendment Bill in Parliament. Maharashtra, with annual revenue of about Rs 250 crore from tax on some 60 professions, is the biggest supporter of the higher ceiling. Source : 11-01-12   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan It's Goodbye For Fancy Salaries In Foreign Banks RBI urges those operating in India to set up remuneration panel to fix pay. In what could change the career landscape in private and foreign banks as a lucarative option, given that they lured the best banking brains with fancy paychecks, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has now drawn the laxman rekha on "excessive" salary their staff can get and the management can dole out. Among bankers drawing an annual salary in excess of Rs 1 crore include ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, Axis Bank CEO Shikha Sharma, ICICI Bank top executives directors K Ramkumar, N S Kannan, Rajiv Sabharwal.The government fixes the remuneration for key executives of public sector banks RBI's top officials, including the governor. While neither succinctly specifying what constitued "excessive remuneration" nor putting a specific ceiling on it, the RBI, has, however, made it mandatory for private and foreign banks to obtain prior permission from RBI while fixing the salaries of their staff and CEOs and whole time directors. Source : 14-01-12   Deccan Herald   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

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HR Articles: Jan-12 (Part-2)

For more article, Visit at : www.amreshanjan.co.cc The Naukri Job Speak Index For Dec-11 Grew By 16% Year On Year But Dipped By 10% When Compared To Nov-11 The Naukri Job Speak index for Dec-11 was at 1072 as compared to 1203 in Nov-11, thus indicating a 10% dip in hiring activity month on month; however a year on year comparison of the index indicates positive movement. Traditionally, December has always been a month where recruitment across sectors have been impacted owing to the end of year holiday season, as most companies put their hiring plans on hold. An in-depth analysis of the index shows that the hiring activity in the Auto sector has been upbeat with the index moving up by 6% in Dec-11 when compared to Nov-11. The index for ITES sector at 731 dipped to an all time low in Dec-11 with the job index moving down by 20% when compared to Nov-11. This could be due the ongoing end of year holiday season as well. The index for Telecom and Oil and Gas sectors saw dips within the range of 20% and 27% in Dec-11 over Nov-11. Construction and Engineering sector witnessed stable hiring during the month, while IT- Software witnessed 13% dip in hiring activity in Dec-11 over Nov-11. Source : 09-01-12   Naukri.com   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Firms Look To Moderate Staff Expectations In 2012 Consulting firm Accenture's former Asia-Pacific managing director Sadeesh Raghavan said hefty perks and hikes were routine when the global economy was doing well, but employees are being told this may not be a bumper year, Mint reports. Jet Airways has introduced a wage freeze for some employees to cut costs. Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata has signalled the need for greater scrutiny of expenditure in a New Year message to employees. In a letter to Jet employees, CEO Nikos Kardasis said, "Over the last few months, though the company has implemented several measures to face the economic adversities, the financial situation of the company continues to be extremely grave." "The problem with a growing economy is that when you have had many good years, you have built in expectations and people take things for granted,"according to Mr. Raghavan. Source : 06-01-12   Mint   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Recession Pangs: Indian Doctors Head Home Thousands of Indian doctors in the U.K. are heading back to India, in what is seen as a clear sign of reverse brain drain. Kelly Services,which tracks human resources movement trends across the globe, estimated that about three lakh Indian professionals from different streams are likely to come back in the next five years. Dr. Ramesh Mehta, secretary-general of the Global Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, estimates that one-fourth of 40,000 doctors of Indian origin in the U.K.'s National Health Services were going to retire soon. "New-generation doctors are not finding jobs because of the recession. New colleges and institutes are coming up in India and they might need experienced people," Dr. Mehta said. India, on the other hand, faces a shortage of doctors. "It is short of six lakh doctors and 10,000 nurses," he said. Source : 05-01-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Gloom Bypasses Second-Rung B-Schools As consulting firms and global and commercial banks shy away from leading business schools, the not-so-marquee names are set for a reasonably good placement season. That is because companies which recruited in large numbers in 2009 are reluctant to visit campuses as they are unsure of the domestic consumption story. With large recruiters missing from B-schools, smaller firms also start second-guessing themselves. The scenario is dramatically different in the second-rung schools (mostly those outside the top 20) that haven't yet seen any decline in the number of offers coming their way. Tech companies are sticking to their recruitment plans drawn up at the beginning of the financial year and will recruit over 250,000 engineering graduates from across the country's lesser-known campuses this year. Sectors such as retail, healthcare, defence, hospitality and consumer durables also offer huge opportunities. Source : 06-01-12   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Vacancies At The Top Taking Longer To Fill Filling up positions at the most senior levels has become increasingly difficult with rising salaries and the demanding nature of the job. As a result, top positions have been lying vacant for longer periods. "Filling up positions at the top level took two to three months earlier, but in some cases it stretches to 15 to18 months now," said E Balaji, managing director and CEO of Ma Foi Randstad. Companies no longer have large risk appetites, nor do they want to hire executives for bigger roles in a hurry. To top it, a slowing economy further aggravates the problem, Mr. Balaji says. Salaries at the top have also increased, ranging from anywhere between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore, making it tougher to find an outside candidate, says Chaitali Mukherjee, country manager, Right Management. Source : 10-01-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Purchasing Manager Index Up, But Little Cause For Cheer The seasonally adjusted HSBC Manufacturing PMI for December stood at a six-month high of 54.2, indicating that the economy is recovering. However, that should be taken with a pinch of salt. The sub-index for new orders was a strong 57.9, well above November's level of 52.8. Export orders did better than their dismal performance in the preceding months. Employment in the formal manufacturing sector stopped contracting for the first time in five months. But on some fronts PMI data has been disappointing. For example, within the HSBC India Services PMI, the sub-index for prices charged has been increasing in the last two months. In manufacturing, the rate of increase in selling prices in December was the highest in seven months. Other concerns include continuing strength in crude oil prices, the depreciating rupee, structural inflation and the poor growth in earnings, all reasons to be very nervous about. Source : 04-01-12   Mint   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Former Barista COO To Head Om Pizza Sanjay Coutinho, COO of Barista, has moved to Om Pizzas and Eats, the franchisee for Papa John's Pizza, Chili's Grill & Bar Restaurants and The Great Kabab Factory, as CEO. Mr. Coutinho is expected to play a key role in Om Pizzas' expansion strategy. He has 20 years of experience in the food and retail industry. Source : 05-01-12   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan DU Students Take 'Employability' Test Delhi University students nearing the end of their graduation took an "employability" test to assess their industry-readiness in the first-ever initiative of its kind. The adaptive test kicked off in December and has already seen as many as 1,045 students appearing for it. The test assesses students' abilities in areas like English comprehension, and quantitative and logical abilities, among others. Says Himanshu Aggarwal, CEO of Aspiring Minds, the company behind the concept of the test, "By testing the students on a range of assessment scales like personality, logic and quantitative analysis, we are able to assess which sectors they are suitable for and where they lag behind." The firm is connected with 75 companies in IT, BPO, KPO, Banks, Retail, Pharma and Hospitality sectors. "Our clients get to log into our portal where they can get a detailed report and can access possible recruits," Mr. Aggarwal says. Source : 10-01-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Qatar Move May Hit Indian Workers Qatar is mulling a unified format of employment contract for foreign domestic workers in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. These states import on a large scale workers from India and other countries. Qatar made the recommendation at a recent meeting of GCC undersecretaries in Manama. The aim is to streamline and unify terms and conditions of employment contracts in the Gulf. According to various estimates, the total number of Indians in the region tops 7.5 million. Saudi Arabia has 1.79 million resident Indians, or just fewer than 7 percent of the population. The GCC states will hold a meeting with major manpower exporting countries to discuss issues surrounding the rights of both workers and their employers. Source : 03-01-12   Hindustan Times   Compiled by Amresh Anjan GroupM Appoints India HR Chief Media planning and investment agency GroupM has appointed Sonali Vaidya as human resources head, India. She takes over from Gaurav Hirey who will be moving to Singapore. Prior to this, she was with Alchemy Group, a financial services group. In a career span of 14 years, she has worked in the HR fields across companies such as ABN Amro Bank, GE Consumer Finance and ESPN Star Sports. Source : 06-01-12   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan India Scores Low In Gender Diversity India has a poor track record as regards gender diversity, and is placed 113th among 135 countries in the latest World Economic Forum rankings. While gender diversity is aggressively touted at the workplace, lack of accountability hinders any progress. Practices such as mentoring efforts, employee resource groups, flexible work timing options and other such support programmes have been implemented across India. However, their usage and success have not been measured. A study by Catalyst Group found that men and women have the same aspirations. However, while 55 percent of women and 57 percent of men aspired to the CEO role, only 11 percent women reached that level as opposed to 21 percent men. This was ascribed to the tendency among women to wait, while men took a future oriented approach. The situation may change as organisations consciously pursue gender diversity. Source : 02-01-12   Financial Chronicle   Compiled by Amresh Anjan RBS Likely To Cut 3,000-4,000 Investment Banking Jobs Royal Bank of Scotland said it is expected to cut between 3,000 and 4,000 investment banking jobs, media reports said.The job cuts are a part of restructuring of the business. According to some sources, the review of part-nationalized RBS's global banking and markets division may be released on Jan 12.The sources also opined that RBS may possibly also sell some businesses like Hoare Gavotte and cash equities.Besides, they also stated that parts of the bank's global banking and markets will be merged with the payments business called GTS or Global Transaction Services. Global Transaction Services is the payments business of RBS having steady revenues and also shares many customers with parts of global banking and markets.British government owns 83% stake in Royal Bank of Scotland. British banks have also been asked to reduce the size of global banking and markets further to become less unsafe in the last three years.The size of the global banking and markets has already been reduced in the last three years. Apart from size reduction of GBM division, British banks have also been asked to separate their UK retail banking operations to lessen the hazards that taxpayers will need to bail out the industry again. There are further rumors that RBS may further cut as many as 10,000 of its 18,900 jobs. Source : 07-01-12   stockmarketdigital.com   Compiled by Amresh Anjan ISB Extends Entrepreneurial Initiative Hyderabad-Based Indian School Of Business (ISB) Is Opening Up Its Entrepreneurship Development Initiative (EDI) To Non-ISB Students, Financial Express Reports. It Is In Talks With NASSCOM And The Indian Angel Network To Tap Students With An Entrepreneurial Bent Of Mind. As Part Of The Programme, ISB Students Go Through A Four-Month Assessment To Check The Viability Of The Venture. Selected Students Get Free Stay At The ISB Campus And A Stipend Of Rs 25,000 For A Period Of One Year, Besides The Incentive Of Deferred Placements. In Return, The Successful Ventures Must Donate 3 Percent Of Their Equity To The Campus. Almost 17 Ventures By ISB Graduates Have Been Incubated since May 2009 And Five Have Graduated. The Programme For Non-ISB Students May Begin This Year. However, They Will Not Get Accommodation On Campus But Only Access To Infrastructural And Intellectual Property-Related Facilities. Source : 10-01-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Demand For Environment Experts Set To Rise With companies taking steps to become environment-friendly, demand for green professionals is likely to increase. "The demand for environmental professionals is expected to go up by 55 to 60 percent this year, as firms are spending more on creating clean technology, reducing emissions and wastage and regulating use of natural resources," said Kanika Vaswani, executive director, Elixir Consulting. Green jobs, white- or blue-collar, are mainly defined as jobs in agricultural, manufacturing, R&D, administrative and service activities that help to conserve the environment.The real estate sector is likely to emerge as one of the biggest employer of green professionals. Consumer goods and the retail sector are also emerging as potential recruiters, Vaswani said. Professionals in the field can expect Rs 12lakh packages and at senior levels Rs 35 lakh to Rs 40 lakh Source : 08-01-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Renault India Deputy MD & COO Steps Down The Deputy Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of France auto-major Renault's Indian operations, Sudhir Rao, has decided to quit. A company spokesperson said that Mr. Rao is quiting the company, but did not comment on reason for quitting and Mr. Rao's future plans. Mr. Rao was one of the key persons for Renault's formal entry into India after it decided to end its long association with the Indian auto-giant Mahindra Group. Source : 08-01-12   Financial Chronicle   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Temp Staffing Firms Face Problem Of Definition Temp staffing firms are facing an "identity" problem, due to the lack of clarity in the definition of their work under the Income-tax Act. The services rendered by staffing companies, which in most cases is supply of labour, would qualify for TDS at 2 percent under Section 194C of the Act. However, the tax authorities insist on a 10 percent deduction, the rate applicable to companies that render professional services. Team Lease Services, under the aegis of the Indian Staffing Federation, has taken up the issue with the Central Board of Direct Taxes. It wants Section 194C to include 'supply of manpower' to put at rest the "ambiguity". "Staffing companies merely provide manpower at low margins and should be clearly categorised under 194C," says Ravi Vishwanath, CFO, Team Lease. "Staffing companies operate on wafer-thin gross margins and net margins are even smaller." Source : 08-01-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

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