HR Articles: May-12 (Part-7)

For more article, Visit at : www.amreshanjan.co.cc Executives In India Most Upbeat On Growth Prospects Indian executives are far more optimistic than their counterparts in other countries of an economic expansion in the next 12 months. Some 86 percent were optimistic on this score, according to the fifth annual American Express/CFO Research Global Business and Spending Monitor. About 45 percent of India-based financial executives also see exchange rate volatility as the biggest threat to the growth prospects of their companies. Some 21 percent are concerned about changing interest rates and capital markets volatility. Manoj Adlakha, vice president and country head, global corporate payments, American Express India, said the weakening rupee, high production costs, fluctuations in oil prices and high inflation were damaging confidence levels. Nearly half of the world's finance executives, or 46 percent, felt that "robust" economic growth will return in their countries by the end of 2012. Source : 16-05-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Boom In E-Commerce To Give Hiring A Fillip Job offers are set to look up in the booming e-commerce sector, with online retailers chalking out major hiring plans this fiscal. Fashionandyou.com co-founder and CEO Pearl Uppal says the industry will require talent from sectors such as technology, analytics, sourcing, general management talent, merchandising and marketing. The company has a staff of 800 people and is likely to hire more than 400 in 2012-13. E-commerce firm Snapdeal.com has ramped up its headcount in recent months and plans to add 1,500-plus this year. HomeShop18.com, which grew by more than 70 percent in headcount terms in 2011, is aiming to replicate that growth this year. With the Internet consumer base scaling up in India, the e-commerce sector is bound to grow, says Snapdeal.com co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl. Source : 15-05-12   Financial Chronicle   Compiled by Amresh Anjan BPO Growth To Sustain Despite Hype In U.S. In spite of the anti-BPO sentiment being unleashed as the U.S. prepares for election, outsourcing is not going away any time soon, Dilip R Vellodi says. Mr. Vellodi is the founder of Sutherland Global Services, a multinational BPO company with an employee base of 30,000. Growth in the offshoring and outsourcing industry will remain on track, according to him. Regarding BPO jobs being shipped to the Philippines, he says they will move to locations where employable educated talent is available. It all depends on what the clients want by way of value and what they are willing to pay for it. Sutherland operates 35 facilities the world over. All the geographies it operates in have grown, including the U.S. The company does not foresee its business being affected in any way, says Mr Vellodi. Source : 16-05-12   The Hindu   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Qantas Restructuring, Slashes 500 Jobs Embattled Australian flag carrier Qantas said that it will axe 500 jobs in its heavy maintenance and engineering operations as part of a restructuring. The move follows an 83% slump in first-half net profit in the six months to December, and an announcement that it would delay the delivery of two A380 superjumbos by three years as part of spending cuts.Qantas will cease heavy maintenance at Tullamarine in Melbourne, and work will be consolidated in Avalon and Brisbane. Source : 21-05-12   Hindustan Times   Compiled by Amresh Anjan EPFO Moots Higher Age Limit For Pension Scheme The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has made a case for increasing the age of private sector employees getting pension from 58 years currently to 60 years. The proposal, made to the Finance Ministry, would enable the EPFO to give a monthly Rs 1,000 to workers who are getting no pension at all. The move may require an estimated 0.63 percent increase in the present PF contribution. Currently, employers contribute 8.33 percent and the Central government 1.16 percent. The debate on the subject has been raging between employee and employer representatives in the EPFO Central Board of Trustees. No agreement has been reached so far as to who would fund the scheme. DL Sachdeva of the All India Trade Union Congress said the body was opposed to the move as it would put an additional burden on workers. Source : 18-05-12   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Fresh Law Graduates Heading For LPOs The legal industry is the latest to be bitten by the outsourcing bug, with a large number of graduates heading for legal process outsourcing (LPO) companies. Isheeta Rutabhasini, associate professor at Amity Law School, attributes the trend to the higher pay packages offered by LPOs. Long working hours and the stressful work environment of law firms may be another reason. The LPO industry is expected to grow to $1.2 billion over the next five years. Mindcrest, an LPO, gets the bulk of its clients from the U.S. and the U.K. The company prefers to hire young legal talent, whether fresh or a few years out of Indian law schools. However, employability is still an issue. Only 5 percent to 7 percent of law graduates who apply to Mindcrest are selected for employment, said Rohan Dalal, managing director. Source : 18-05-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Indian Workers, Students Prefer U.K. Both Indian workers and students continue to show a marked preference for the U.K. There are about 5,00,000 workers and 39,000 students of Indian origin in that country. Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told Parliament that according to Indian missions in 29 European countries, Italy has a total of 70,248 Indian workers, Germany has 42,500, Spain 34,130 and the Netherlands 19,250. There are about 33,000 Indian workers in all in Greece, Russia and Switzerland. As for students, France has the largest number at 6,374, Russia was next at 4,500 and Italy had 1,198, Mr. Soni said. She added that the Overseas Affairs Ministry had not received any specific complaint regarding discrimination against Indian students abroad. Source : 20-05-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Air France Cuts Up To 5,000 Jobs AIR France is set to cut 5,000 jobs over the next three years as part of a new business plan aimed to get it back into the black. The new plan would transfer some leisure flights to its low-cost carrier Transavia, cut costs in economy class and improve comfort in business class. The number of dedicated freight planes would be reduced as would maintenance costs. Employees were given an outline of what was needed in March and have since been negotiating over the company's call for an increase in working hours plus possible job cuts. Source : 21-05-12   the Connection   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Hewlett Packard to Slash Work Force by up to 30,000 Hewlett-Packard Co. plans to cut its workforce by 25,000 to 30,000 employees, a record number for the venerable technology giant as it grapples with declining revenue and profits. Cuts in that range would constitute about 8% of H-P's total head count, which stood at approximately 349,600 at the end of October. Source : 18-05-12   Wall Street Journal   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Manufacturing To Add 4 Mn Jobs In 12th Plan The manufacturing sector will create three to four million jobs during the 12th Plan period. The government said this in its approach paper to the Plan, released recently. Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions V Narayanasamy said the 2012-17 Plan would focus on faster, sustainable and more inclusive growth. According to the 13th quarterly survey conducted between October and December, employment opportunities were also reported in different sectors including IT/BPO, Mr. Narayanasamy said. The quarterly quick surveys assess job market changes in select sectors. The surveys on changes in employment are carried out by the Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour and Employment. The IT/BPO sectors contributed 19.80 lakh between October 2008 and December 2011, the latest survey said. Source : 15-05-12   Financial Chronicle   Compiled by Amresh Anjan No. Of Part-Timers Swells Amid U.K. Job Crisis The number of people taking up part-time jobs in the U.K. has more than doubled in the last four years. According to a study by the Trade Union Congress (TUC), nearly 600,000 men were engaged in part-time work, which they were forced to take up when they were unable to find full-time employment. This is significantly higher than the 293,000 part-time workers in 2007. People in east Britain have been the worst impacted by under-employment in the past four years. The number of men "trapped" in these jobs has increased threefold to almost 60,000. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the surprise fall in unemployment last month was mainly due to an increase in part-time and temporary jobs. Most people are looking for permanent, full-time work and the job crisis is far from over. Source : 16-05-12   Deccan Herald   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Godrej picks Strategic Marketing Chief from Bharti Godrej Group has named Shireesh Joshi as strategic marketing group head. Mr. Joshi, who was previously with Bharti Airtel, will report to Tanya Dubhash, executive director and president marketing and President Marketing, Godrej Group. His previous stint at Bharti Airtel included the Airtel Brand relaunch strategy and established the vision for the new advertising revenue stream, online business and lead mobile services marketing. Source : 16-05-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Survey: English Top Business Language Of The World A survey found that English is the dominant language of business around the world. The study was conducted by Ipsos Global Public Affairs for Reuters. It polled 16,344 employed adults in 26 countries. About 67 percent, or two-thirds, of the employees polled said English was the language they used most often when communicating with workers in other countries. A meagre 5 percent used Spanish. Almost 67 percent said the language used for their business interactions was different from their native language. The survey shows how English has emerged as the default language for business around the world, said Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Global. Nearly 59 percent, 55 percent and 50 percent employees in India, Singapore and Saudi Arabia, respectively, said they were most likely to interact with people in other nations. Source : 15-05-12   Financial Chronicle   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Study: Quality Of Higher Education Lowest In India A study by global network of research universities Universitas 21 has put India's higher education system at the bottom among 48 countries. The U.S. tops the list as expected. The study has assessed the best countries for higher education based on parameters such as output (research and a large educated workforce, resources (investment by government and private sector), environment (government policy and regulation, diversity and participation opportunities) and connectivity (international networks and collaboration). Besides the U.S., the top four countries providing the best tertiary-level education were Sweden, Canada, Finland and Denmark. Government funding of higher education as a percentage of GDP was found to be the highest in Finland, Norway and Denmark. China, India, Japan and the U.S. were in the bottom 25 percent of countries for international research collaboration. Source : 14-05-12   Hindustan Times   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Iffco-Tokio Ropes In Ex-General Insurance CMD Lohiya As Its MD Private sector general insurer Iffco-Tokio General Insurance today appointed Yogesh Lohiya as managing director and chief executive. Prior to joining Iffco-Tokio, Mr. Lohiya was chairman and managing director of General Insurance Corporation of India. Iffco-Tokio General Insurance is a joint venture between Indian Farmers Fertiliser Co-operative (Iffco) and its associates holding 74 per cent stakes and the largest Japanese insurer Tokio Marine and Nichido Fire, holding 26 per cent stakes. Source : 15-05-12   IBN Live.com   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

www.amreshanjan.co.cc

HR Articles: May-12 (Part-6)

For more article, Visit at : www.amreshanjan.co.cc Manufacturing Industries Set To Give Highest Pay Hikes This Year Slowdown in the knoČwledge-intensive industries hČave made manufacturing, infrastructure and retail industries to emerge as the top sectors so far as annual increment percentages are concerned. These segments are also the ones that are upbeat about hiring this year.According to the compČenČsation trends survey conduČcČtČed by Deloitte Touche ToČhČm-atsu India, increments in tČhe manufacturing sector are aČmongst the highest for 20Č1Č2ľ13. At the median, annual increment is at 15 per cent. Variable pay median is at 20 per cent and it has increased from 12.5 per cent last year. Infrastructure and real estate have also given 15 per cent increments with median variable pay of 15 per cent.Overall median salary increase across sectors is 12 per cent. Financial services sector has been most conservative in increment projection for 2012-13 at 10 per cent. Though manufacturing has only marginally increased increments this year, it has emerged as the top sector only because the traditional paymasters are slowing down. The knowledge-intensive industries traditionally known for offering very high average increase earlier have slowed down, considering increased wage cost and reduction in margins, said E Balaji, MD and CEO of Randstad India. Source : 14-05-12   Financial Chronicle   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Capital Goods Drag March Factory Output Down 3.5% Factory output fell sharply in March, increasing the chances of further interest rate cuts. The index of industrial production (IIP) fell 3.5 percent in March, contrasting sharply with February's 4.1 percent and 9.4 percent growth a year ago. The index grew just 2.8 percent for fiscal 2012, compared to 8.3 percent in the last fiscal. The weakness was attributed to a sharp fall in capital goods, which contracted 4.1 percent, compared to a 14.8 percent rise the previous year. Manufacturing output slumped 4.4 percent, mining fell 1.3 percent and consumer goods output was up a mere 0.7 per cent. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee called the figures disappointing and attributed the trend to poor domestic investments, the uncertain global environment and monetary tightening. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said project execution remained an issue. Source : 11-05-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Demographic Dividend Dream Could Crash India's demographic dividend, or the number of working age youth, may fail to pay off in the context of skewed patterns of growth. The workforce is set to increase from 77.5 crore in 2008 to 95 crore in 2026. By 2020, the average age of an Indian will be only 29 years, compared to 37 years in China and the U.S., 45 years in West Europe and 48 years in Japan. The International Monetary Fund's "Asia Pacific Regional Economic Outlook for 2012" says this dividend can add about 2 percent to the annual rate of economic growth. However, India's large pool of working age population is concentrated in regions poorest in terms of savings and job potential. This workforce needs to find gainful unemployment, which remains elusive. With growth rates now pared, chances of expanding employment may have dwindled. Source : 11-05-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan U.S. Says Indian Professionals Are Welcome A senior U.S. State Department official said Indian professionals were welcome in their country. The move comes against the backdrop of India threatening to bring up the issue of visa fee hike at the World Trade Organization. Victoria Nuland, spokesperson of the department, said the issue was being looked into. Indians were the greatest beneficiaries of both L-1 visa and B-1/H-1 visa programmes, and the U.S. would continue to fully support the admission of qualified Indians under these programmes. India has threatened to seek consultations with the U.S. under WTO rules. The recent visa fee hike, India claims, discriminates between Indian software companies and U.S. firms. The government is in talks with the U.S. and Canada for easier movement of people, professionals and business travellers, Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed told Parliament. Source : 12-05-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Staff Costs At IT Top 3 Keep Pace With Revenue Staff costs at the top three software firms Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro increased significantly year-on-year. As a percentage of revenue, however, they remained more or less the same despite considerable recruitment last fiscal. E Balaji, managing director and CEO of Randstad India, calls it a healthy sign because it means revenue growth has outpaced staff costs. According to Siddharth A Pai, partner, global resourcing and India operations, Information Services Group, the increase in staff costs in line with revenue is to be expected in "plain vanilla service" business, revenues being a linear function of headcount. There would be cause for concern only if there was a large increase in headcount costs without revenue increasing substantially, or if a significant jump in revenues did not come with staff costs rising considerably. Source : 11-05-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Lawyers Happy At Work But Open To Moving Most Indian lawyers are fairly happy with where they work. About 59 percent of those working in law firms either agreed or strongly agreed that they enjoyed their current jobs. As for in-house lawyers, 51 percent were positive about their current roles. In a survey of 536 lawyers conducted by Legally India, only 15 percent saw themselves staying on in their current jobs. The same was true of in-house company lawyers. Moreover, 44 percent of those working in law firms said they wanted to start their own firms or practices, a trend that has sustained in the Indian legal market where start-ups are launched every week. About 60 percent of the lawyers working in corporate departments also have entrepreneurial ambitions. The happiest lawyers were those working in the courts, 71 percent of whom said they enjoyed the daily tussle. Source : 10-05-12   Mint   Compiled by Amresh Anjan SKS Microfinance Culls 1,200 Jobs In Andhra Pradesh SKS Microfinance is cutting 1,200 jobs and closing 78 branches in Andhra Pradesh. SKS is the only listed microfinance institution (MFI) and has a headcount of 3,400 in Andhra Pradesh. It incurred a loss of Rs 1,360 crore during the year ended March. SKS Microfinance managing director MR Rao said the state of the microfinance sector in AP had forced the company to take this "painful decision". The state was at one stage the microfinance capital of the country. Employees are being offered two months' salary in lieu of notice and 15 days' salary for every year of service completed. The AP Microfinance Ordinance in October had crippled the activities of all MFIs, including SKS. The company reiterated that it is not closing down its AP operations, only rationalising its workforce in the state. Source : 10-05-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Slowdown Hits Pace Of B-School Placements Placements at B-schools have dragged on longer than usual. The process is normally over by March-April, but some students have yet to secure offers this year. For example, at the Institute of Management Technology Ghaziabad, about 7 percent of the batch of 424 has yet to be placed. Alterations in placement processes, such as introducing spot offer system, deferred placements, giving domestic recruiters preference and approaching more companies, have not helped. Shridhar Guda, chairperson, placements, Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kozhikode, blames it on the slowdown. Companies have hired cautiously this year and reduced their intake of recruits compared to last year. At the IIM Ahmedabad, the average number of offers per company stood at 2.35. B-schools, including the IIMs, had to invite a higher number of firms. However, mid-level and smaller institutes still found placements difficult. Source : 09-05-12   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan MNCs Look At Tier 2 Cities For R&D Expansion Multinational companies (MNCs) in India are moving their R&D centres into tier 2 cities to rein in costs and curb attrition. The study by Zinnov says companies are entering tier 2 cities such as Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Vadodara, Nagpur, Pune and Thiruvananthapuram. The trend has been seen in MNCs such as Dell, Nokia, Amazon and others looking to expand. Tier 2 cities have traditionally been a preferred destination for IT and BPO companies. These cities provide advantages such as bigger catchment area, lower attrition and cost arbitrage, said Chandramouli CS, senior director globalization advisory, Zinnov. The study also highlighted the MNC R&D talent pool in India. For 2011, it was 204,196 and expected to grow 9 percent a year to 2.5 lakh by 2015. Fresh talent in tier 2 cities may be some 35 percent of this pool. Source : 11-05-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Reliance To Step Up Hiring, Headcount Tops 50,000 Employee headcount at Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has grown during the last fiscal after a gap of three years, taking the total number to beyond 50,000. As per the company's annual report for 2011-12, the number of employees grew by 505 during fiscal 2012, taking the total staff strength to more than 50,000, including more than 25,000 employed in retail. RIL has recruited close to 100 in leadership roles, of which 20 percent are expatriates. It has also hired 37 professionals for its business transformation initiative and added 55 management graduates, 37 chartered accountants and 340 graduate engineers from campus recruitment drives. Campus hiring was "only likely to swell in the future," the company said. Prior to this surge in employees, Reliance saw its employee numbers shrink by 2,826 between FY09 and FY11. Source : 10-05-12   Financial Chronicle   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Danone Narang Beverages Picks India GM Danone Narang Beverages, a joint venture between French foods company Danone and Mumbai-based Narang Group, has named Tarun Arora general manager for India,. He was previously executive vice president and head of marketing at Godrej Consumer Products. Mr. Arora, who has been with Godrej since 2007, has over 15 years of work experience in retail and consumer packaged goods sector and has worked with companies like Wipro Ltdĺs consumer arm Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, Bharti Walmart Private Limited and Dabur India Ltd. Source : 09-05-12   Mint   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Engg Courses Back In Demand On Robust IT Hiring Demand for IT and computer science engineering (CSE) degrees has witnessed a surge after a dull four years. The trend was led by IT companies, which hired the maximum number of engineering graduates from these streams this year. With parents rushing to secure seats for their wards, engineering colleges are demanding premiums of between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 20 lakh for seats in the management quota. The fee set by the government is Rs 95,000 per annum. B Tech seats, much sought after during 2001-08, have fewer takers now. IT made about 90 percent of the job offers in the recently concluded placement season between September and March. Infosys, Cognizant and Wipro were the top recruiters. Other sectors accounted for the remaining 10 percent, said Rajeshwar Reddy, chairman of Anurag Group of Colleges. Source : 09-05-12   Deccan Chronicle   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Gender, Specific Needs Diversity Gaining Ground As many as 91 percent of companies in the Asia pacific region surveyed by Mercer said gender was a top focus area for them. Next on the list was disability, with 39 percent affirming its importance. Some companies already have a diversity strategy specific to people with disabilities. This includes targeted recruitment and creating a work environment for specific needs. Of the participating companies in India, a total of 60 percent had a diversity and inclusion strategy. Companies said they would gear their efforts towards developing women for leadership roles and attracting more diverse talent to their organisations, especially in the context of the rapidly changing demography. Companies will also work towards retaining female talent. In Infosys, 34 percent of its workforce now is female, up from just 10 percent in 2000. Source : 09-05-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Ramco Systems Appoints CEO Ramco Systems has appointed Mr Virender Aggarwal as its Chief Executive Officer. This post was hitherto held by Mr P. R. Venketrama Raja, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Ramco. Mr Kamesh Ramamoorthy, Chief Operating Officer, Ramco, will report to Mr Aggarwal, according to a company official. Prior to this, Mr Aggarwal was President & APAC Region Head for a leading IT services firm based in Singapore. He had earlier worked with Satyam Computers based out of Singapore. Source : 07-05-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan BPOs Pin Expansion Hopes On Domain Experts BPO firms are hiring vertical heads from sectors such as automotive, retail or manufacturing. Genpact is one such BPO which has brought in 35 to 40 people at the vice president level from the financial, manufacturing, automobiles, consumer care goods and retail sectors. Piyush Mehta, senior vice-president HR, says Genpact is looking for industry expertise and is thus tapping specialists from other sectors. Its fastest growing businesses are packaged consumer goods, retail and pharma. Thus it has inducted sales people from these industries for client-facing roles. Mike Haley, vice-president, business development, pharma, is an example. He brings 20 years of experience in the pharma, healthcare and insurance industries. BPO companies are looking at people who have worked for 10 years to 15 years in their respective domains and are subject matter experts, says Sunil Goel, director, GlobalHunt. Source : 14-05-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

www.amreshanjan.co.cc

HR Articles: May-12 (Part-5)

For more article, Visit at : www.amreshanjan.co.cc Naukri Job Speak Index For April- 12 Grew By 12% As Compared To The Previous Year The first month of the financial quarter starts on a positive note with hiring activity moving up by 2% in Apr-12 when compared to Mar-12. Most sectors do not indicate slackening on the recruitment front with IT sector hiring surging over the last few months. The index for IT sector in April-12 at 1400 is the highest since inception and hiring activity is 18% higher when compared to Mar-12. An in-depth analysis of the job index shows that both IT and Telecom sectors have seen movement on the recruitment front with their indices moving up by 6% respectively in Apr-12 as compared to the previous month. Banking, Auto and Capital Goods sector maintained steady hiring levels this month while Oil & gas sector saw a dip of 10% in hiring activity when compared to Mar-12. Construction and Engineering however has seen dipping hiring numbers over the last few months. Source : 05-05-12   Naukri.com   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Financial Sector May Limit Hikes To Single Digits Salary hikes in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector are likely to be in single digits because of the weak economic environment. Compensation hikes would be marginal and likely to be in a single digit, that too to offset inflation, said Vinay Grover, CEO, Symbiosis Management Consultants. Hefty bonuses or variable component have almost vanished. Salaries have come down 20 percent to 40 percent on an average, depending on seniority. Foreign banks and investment bankers have been struggling to continue operations. Recent lay-offs indicate all is not well within the sector, Mr. Grover said. In India alone, foreign banks such as HSBC, Citibank, UBS and Nomura have laid off a large number of employees, he said. Ajay Shah, TeamLease Services general manager, team BFSI, said India's economic situation and the global recession had caused turmoil in the market. Source : 06-05-12   Financial Chronicle   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Realignment Spells Role Change For 90 General Motor Techies General Motors (GM) is moving 90 employees at its India Science Lab to its Bangalore-based Technical Centre. The lab carries out mathematical modelling and software work. This is not a lay-off exercise, the company said. According to P Balendran, vice president at GM India, work at the lab is being realigned with the centre, which has 2,000 employees. Employees have the option of picking a position at the centre or leaving. They may be placed in other divisions at the centre, such as design, powertrain development and engineering, apart from a global purchasing office. The move may be part of the realignment and restructuring being carried by GM, enabling it to efficiently managing its global engineering workforce. In the U.S., too, GM may be cutting about 100 positions at its Warren Technical Centre in Michigan. Source : 03-05-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan India, China New Job Destinations For Westerners India and China hold immense opportunities for professionals from the West, according to Nirmalya Kumar, professor of marketing at London Business School. He highlighted the changing trend of westerners looking to the East for work, while traditionally Indians and Chinese eye jobs in the West. Multinational companies are expanding rapidly into new markets, opening up opportunities for westerners. People need to be moved from the West to the East, and it has to be made easier. China and India should be as open to westerners as westerners have been to Indian and Chinese immigrants, he said in Dubai during a presentation on the emergence of growth economies and corporate giants. The Indian government needs to make it easier for Europeans and Americans to get work visas. India was also capable of moving beyond services, Mr.Kumar added. Source : 04-05-12   The Asian Age   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Euro Zone Jobless Rate At 15-Year High Unemployment in the euro zone reached 10.9 percent in March, the highest in 15 years. Economists said the situation would further deteriorate as the impact of the debt crisis ripples across the region. The jobless rate increased by a tenth of a percentage point from February in the 17 euro zone nations, showed a report by Eurostat, the European Union (EU) statistics office. Around 17.4 million people are unemployed and 24.8 million out of work across the 27-nation EU, where unemployment remained at 10.2 percent. There is a likelihood of the rate moving above 11.0 percent in the coming months, perhaps even reaching 11.5 percent. Source : 04-05-12   Hindustan Times   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Survey Highlights Desperation To Work From Home A poll conducted by online communications provider TeamViewer found that people are ready to give up a lot, from spouses to daily showers, to be able to work from home. The findings are based on the responses of 2,630 people above the age of 18. About 12 percent of people polled said they would forgo daily showers in order to telecommute. Five percent said they would divorce their spouse, and 34 percent said they would be willing to give up social media and 30 percent would give up texting. Around 17 percent of the respondents were willing to forgo a hike in order to work from home. And 15 percent were ready to cut their vacation days by half. Around 54 percent of the respondents thought they would be at least as productive working from home as they were from the office. Source : 04-05-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan India Stays Ahead In Consumer Confidence India remained the most optimistic market in terms of consumer confidence in a Nielsen survey, but there was still some caution on the spending front. The survey pointed to an increase of 1 point in consumer confidence, to 123. This is the ninth consecutive quarter when India has retained the tag of being the world's most optimistic market. However, job security was still a cause for worry and consumers are still cautious when it comes to spending spare cash, according to Justin Sargent, managing director, Nielsen India. India is followed by Saudi Arabia at 119 and Indonesia and the Philippines at 118. Confidence in the first quarter of this calendar year improved in 38 out of 56 markets. It was down in 16 markets and remained flat in two, the report said Source : 02-05-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Low Hikes May Drive Attrition Up To As High As 31% Attrition rates are likely to be as high as 31 percent during the June quarter as employees unsatisfied with annual salary hikes would look to switch jobs. The average attrition rate being projected is sharply higher compared to a rise of 9 percent to 10 percent in the preceding quarter. In April-June 2011, the average attrition rate was 27 percent. Attrition is expected to go up in the corresponding three-month period this fiscal because employees would have received their annual appraisals. Those not satisfied with their performance review or salary hikes would want better opportunities. Employees had expected hikes of not less than 20 percent, said Rishi Raman, CEO and managing director, Ripples Consultancy Services. Employers need to take alternative steps to retain talent, such as providing career opportunities and a suitable work environment. Source : 02-05-12   Financial Chronicle   Compiled by Amresh Anjan IIM Indore Student Gets Rs 53 Lakh Offer The final placement for the class of 2012 at the Indian Institute of Management, Indore, saw a Singapore-based infrastructure advisory firm making an offer of Rs 53 lakh per annum to a student. Another student was offered an annual package of Rs 32 lakh by a leading European investment bank, an IIM Indore spokesman said. Almost all the top companies from several sectors participated in the process this year. The average annual package was higher by around 11.5 percent. A total of 443 students completed the institute's flagship postgraduate programme in 2010-12. Of these, 434 received job offers in different sectors. About 26 percent of the students won jobs in consultancy while 18 percent opted for finance, 28 percent marketing and sales and others for IT and operations and general management. Source : 02-05-12   The Pioneer   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Profile & Higher Pay, Add Sheen To Temporary Jobs Youngsters are quitting their permanent jobs and joining temping or staffing companies, lured by challenging roles and higher pay. Big companies such as IBM, Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel and ICICI have of late been paying their temporary staff more. As a result, the gap between temp and permanent staff pay is narrowing. From 12 percent to 15 percent two years ago, the difference is now just 4 percent to 5 percent, says Sangeeta Lala, vice-president of staffing company TeamLease Services. The firm has expanded to 70,000 employees from 58,000 in 2008. Temp staffing firms typically keep shifting their staff from one organisation to another whenever the client concerned needs workforce. The staffing industry is still at a nascent stage, says Basudev Mukherjee, executive director, Indian Staffing Federation. It spans across manufacturing, consumer durables, retail and the automobile sector. Source : 02-05-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan ICICI Securities Picks CDR Chief From Reliance Cap ICICI Securities has named L Govind head of structured products and corporate debt restructuring (CDR). Most recently, Mr. Govind was with Reliance Capital, monitoring its debt and equity investments in companies. Also, Mr. Govind is a visiting faculty at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI). He holds a post-graduate diploma in management from IIM-Lucknow and also a BE degree in Mechanical Engineering from Vikram University, Ujjain. Source : 04-05-12   VC Circle   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Lufthansa To Cut 3,500 Jobs To Reduce Costs Lufthansa airlines will cut full-time jobs in administrative departments worldwide over the next few years. The news came as its loss narrowed to 379m euros ($498m; Ł308m) in the first quarter, from a loss of 507m euros in same period of 2011.Lufthansa blamed higher fees and taxes, even as quarterly revenues rose by 5.6% to a record 6.6bn euros. These included an air traffic tax imposed in Germany and Austria and the costs of carbon emissions trading in Germany."Higher taxes, fees and charges put a massive strain on our quarterly result," said Christoph Franz, chairman of Lufthansa AG. "We cannot wait until politicians also recognise the damage that one-sided taxes and charges do to aviation and to Europe's reputation as a place to do business." Lufthansa said that fuel costs had risen by 304m euros in the past year.Last month, Lufthansa completed the sale of loss-making UK airline BMI to IAG, the company that owns British Airways and Iberia. Source : 04-05-12   Hindustan Times   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

www.amreshanjan.co.cc

HR Articles: May-12 (Part-4)

For more article, Visit at : www.amreshanjan.co.cc CII Study: Business Confidence Up Slightly Business confidence of Indian corporates has improved slightly due to expectations of increase in investment and better capacity utilization, as per a study by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII). Around 42 percent of 200 respondents said the economy would grow by 7 to 7.5 percent during 2012-13. Approximately 29 percent anticipated a fall in inflation to below 7 percent this financial year, the study said. According to the study, around 58.7 percent expect capacity utilisation to be higher than 75 percent in the first three months of 2012-13. However, the study added that while the business confidence index has increased for the last two quarters it is still well below previous year's levels. As against 62.5 in the first quarter of 2011-12, the index was at 55 in April-June, 2012, the study stated. Source : 29-04-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Talent Pool To Decide Future Of Manufacturing A study said the manufacturing industry will be critical for economic expansion and job creation in emerging economies. The World Economic Forum and Deloitte Touche Tomhatsu in a joint report identified talent as a key differentiator that will define the future of the manufacturing sector. There is at present a skill gap of an estimated 10 million jobs in manufacturing worldwide. The strategic use of public policy and the ability to innovate are other factors that will boost manufacturing. Emerging nations are taking various steps to overcome the talent shortage. Attracting and retaining skilled workers is becoming a competitive field. Manufacturing in the future may resemble a global talent race in which countries and companies compete for skilled workers who can handle advanced manufacturing processes, said Deloitte vice-chairman, consumer and industrial products industry leader Craig Giffi. Source : 26-04-12   Deccan Herald   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Report: Indian Firms Drive Up Job Creation In U.S. A Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) report said Indian companies have created 52,000 jobs in the U.S. since 2005. Thirty-six companies operating in 40 U.S. states have invested more than $820 million in manufacturing facilities in that country, said the survey. More than 20 top U.S lawmakers were present at the release of the survey. Despite the recession, 70 percent of the companies surveyed had increased their staff since 2005, the report said. More than 34 percent of these had established manufacturing facilities in the U.S., with their investments topping $820 million. Nearly 65 percent of them had taken CSR initiatives. The survey confirmed that Indian companies are key drivers of U.S. job creation and economic activity, said Senator Mark Warner, co-chair of the Senate India Caucus. Source : 30-11-99   Hindustan Times   Compiled by Amresh Anjan IT Recruitments Set To Top 1 Lakh Recruitments are showing an upward trend in IT, with top companies announcing close to one lakh job openings in 2012-13. Infosys said it will hire 35,000 people this fiscal, of which 13,000 will be in BPO and 1,200 onsite. Though the break-up for this fiscal is not known, industry observers expect that 60 percent would be added through campus hiring and the remainder would be lateral. Tata Consultancy Services is planning to take on its rolls 50,000 employees during the current fiscal. It has already made 43,600 job offers on campuses. The new recruits will join from the second quarter. Tech Mahindra reportedly plans to add 10,000 to its headcount. HCL, however, does not plan to hire freshers in the next two quarters. IT industry body NASSCOM had predicted that the sector will create 2,00,000 jobs in FY13. Source : 26-04-12   Deccan Herald   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Microsoft India Retains Most Attractive Employer Tag Microsoft India has been voted the most attractive employer for the second year in a row, Hindustan Times reports. According to HR services company Randstad, the survey included 8,500 employees from more than 150 companies in India. Global research firm ICMA International carried out the survey. The poll was aimed at measuring the popularity of the employer brand. With the globalisation of the Indian market, there is a healthy competition not only in establishing the brand but also in attracting the best skills, Randstad India Managing Director E Balaji said. Occupying second and third place were Oracle India and Tata Consultancy Services, respectively. Special recognition was given to Volkswagen India in the auto sector and Nokia India in consumer durables. Source : 27-04-12   Deccan Herald   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Granules India Names CFO Mr. V.V.S. Murthy has been appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Granules India Ltd, a Hyderabad-based, pharmaceutical manufacturing company.Mr Pranesh Raj Mathur, who had the dual role of President – Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) division and CFO, will continue his role as the President of the API division.Mr. Murthy previously served as Group Chief Financial Officer at Dishman Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals Ltd. He has over 32 years of experience in the finance industry including 17 years in the pharmaceutical industry, Granules said. Source : 26-04-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Attrition In IT Hinges On Projects, Hiring HCL Technologies, the fourth largest IT firm by sales and profitability, had the highest attrition at 15 percent among Indian IT companies. It was followed by Infosys Technologies at 14.7 percent and Wipro with an attrition rate of 14.4 percent during the January-March quarter. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) had suffered 12.2 percent attrition. A combination of type of projects, benching, utilisation and type of hiring, fresher or lateral, decides the attrition rate of a company. TCS, with its large wage hikes and improved utilisation over the quarter, had the lowest rate of attrition. Its utilisation rates were higher than its peers and so was the quality of its projects. HCL has been following an employee rationalisation programme for its business process outsourcing (BPO) business, which is under review. Interestingly, the company follows an "employee first, customer second" approach. Source : 26-04-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan HSBC Lays Off 750 In De-Layering Exercise Lay-offs have struck HSBC employees in large numbers, with the axe falling on more than 350 employees at its centres in Pune and 200 in Hyderabad. A total of 750 employees reportedly have been asked to leave across locations. Assistant managers to vice presidents were asked to pick between termination and resignation. They were given a month's salary for each year spent in the company, and an additional three months' pay. Dubbed Project Nemo, the de-layering exercise was initiated globally to trim positions across levels. The affected units include the global service centres, invest direct and commercial banking, and software development in Hyderabad. Jobs are also set to go in the U.K., where HSBC is planning to let go of 2,000 people. The lay-offs amount to 10 percent of its workforce. Source : 25-04-12   Financial Chronicle   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Wipro To Shed Mid-Level Staff, Make Cultural Changes Wipro is planning to trim positions at mid-management and make sweeping cultural changes to stay on the growth track. CEO of IT business TK Kurien said the company required the shift. Thought leadership will not bring revenues. It is about who can deliver and who cannot. For too long, the middle management has slowed things. The company has taken a beating in the fourth quarter, when numbers have been disappointing. Kurien attributed the results to certain delays in deal closures during the quarter. In spite of this, the company will give wage hikes to its employees effective June this year in line with industry averages. Employees in India had been offered a 12 percent to 15 percent wage hike last year. The CEO said the future was clearly in the non-linear model. Wipro will focus on cloud, mobility and analytics. Source : 25-04-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Seats May Go A-Begging At Lower Rung B-Schools Around 1,00,000 seats may not be filled at tier II and tier III management institutes. As admissions loom, lower rung B-schools are worrying about the likely shortfall in numbers. The situation is quite grim, said H Chaturvedi, director, Birla Institute of Management and Technology, Noida. Tier II and tier III B-schools face nearly 50 percent vacancies this year. In Uttar Pradesh alone, only 12,000 students appeared for the entrance exam for 24,000 seats. Maharashtra faces a similar dilemma. In the academic year 2010-11, the number of vacant seats in engineering and management stood at 30,000 and 20,000, respectively, forcing the state to call for a halt to fresh approvals. Last year, 138 institutes across the country shut shop due to low admission rates. These included 15 engineering, 65 management and 29 MCA institutes across Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Source : 25-04-12   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan E-Commerce Picks Up Top B-School Talent Students of premier B-schools and engineering colleges are eyeing openings in the e-commerce sector. The sunrise sector has grown phenomenally in the last one year. Snapdeal.com has made more than 20 offers across the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and 75 at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Flipkart has hired 120 graduates from IITs and 23 from IIMs and other top B-schools. Naaptol.com has made 15 offers across leading B-schools, including Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies and the Indian School of Business. The prospect of larger responsibilities and faster growth is driving students towards e-commerce. They are between 25 years and 30 years of age and seeking jobs that offer scope to explore. Naaptol.com has offered a salary of Rs 12 lakh for IIM graduates and Rs 6 lakh to Rs 9 lakh for others. Source : 25-04-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan TCS To Boost Numbers By 50,000 This Fiscal Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will be hiring 50,000 employees in 2012-13. CEO and Managing Director N Chandrasekaran said the company is well prepared to achieve balanced growth across the industries and markets it operates in. In view of this, it will target to recruit 50,000 people this year. TCS will also be hiring employees in the U.S., including trainees, during the fall semester, said Ajoy Mukherjee, executive vice president and global head, HR. TCS conducted its largest hiring drive during 2011-12, when it added 70,400 employees. This year, it has made 43,600 offers on campuses to trainees who will be joining in the second quarter. Attrition rates have fallen further to 12.2 percent as a result of the firm's retention and employee engagement efforts, Mr. Mukherjee said. Employees will get a wage hike of 8 percent this year. Source : 25-04-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Survey: Indian CEOs Unfazed By Talent Gap Indian CEOs are less concerned about the talent challenges in their country compared to their Chinese or global peers. They are also more optimistic about talent availability and short-term growth prospects, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) 15th Annual Global CEO Survey 2012. About 76 percent of the respondents said they were willing to undertake training initiatives for the available talent, particularly in vocational training. The figure was 54 percent globally. CEO across countries continued to face talent challenges, saying they were unable to pursue market opportunity because of lack of skills. CEOs in India may be underestimating the extent of this challenge today, said Padmaja Alaganandan, executive director, consulting, PwC India. Investment in skills and capability building were a key requirement and, if not addressed swiftly, expansion and innovation and innovation could suffer. Source : 25-04-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Squeeze On Margins To Keep IT Salary Hikes Down Faced by margin pressures, IT companies may now give only single-digit increments, compared to 20 percent to 30 percent a few years ago. High single digits will be the norm this year, said E Balaji, managing director and CEO of staffing firm Randstad. Software companies are under pressure to keep employee costs down because they constitute 40 percent to 50 percent of their total outlay. India's largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has announced an average 8 percent increase in pay. Others are expected to do the same. At TCS, increments will vary from 5 percent to 10 percent depending on grade, experience and consistency in performance, said Ajoy Mukherjee, executive vice president and global HR head. Source : 24-04-12   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Reliance Infrastructure Names CEO, EPC Biz Head Reliance Infrastructure has named Lalit Jalan CEO and SC Gupta chief of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) business. The duo has resigned from the board of directors. The company has appointed VK Chaturvedi, former CMD of Nuclear Power Corp., as non-executive director. Source : 24-04-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

www.amreshanjan.co.cc

HR Articles: May-12 (Part-3)

For more article, Visit at : www.amreshanjan.co.cc Job Restlessness High Among Indians Finds Survey A survey has concluded that more employees in India are looking at a job switch than their global peers. About 30 percent of Indian employees are frequently thinking about leaving their jobs and 60 percent are planning to look for a new job within a year, the survey by global workforce solutions provider Kelly Services said. Employees are concerned about career goals. Many are looking for meaningful work and opportunities for growth. Unless employers can give that, many feel that it is best to keep moving jobs, said Kelly Services India Managing Director Kamal Karanth. However, though restless, 68 percent of Indian respondents said they were happy in their jobs, one of the highest scores across 30 countries. The survey covered 1,70,000 people, including 6,500 in India. Source : 19-04-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Infosys Defers Annual Pay Rise, May Review Decision The fourth-quarter financial performance of Infosys, the country's second-largest information technology company, failed to bring cheer to both investors and employees.The Bangalore-based IT bellwether generally announces its annual pay rise in April; it has decided to withhold it. It said the management might revisit the decision in the middle of the year, based on market conditions. Nandita Gurjar, its senior vice-president and global head of human resources, said: "Our employees understand the problems of the company. They are behind us and they are the major stakeholders. Most of our employees were aware of this from their business units about the conditions." Though there will be no salary rise as of now, the company has promoted around 16,000 employees with effect from April 1. The promotions were across the board, it said. Source : 14-04-12   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan ISB To Provide Executive Education In Pak Indian School of Business (ISB) signed a memorandum of understanding with Institute of Business Administration (IBA), the oldest business school outside of North America, to provide executive education in Pakistan.Under the MoU, signed by ISB deputy dean Deepak Chandra, and Ishrat Husain, dean and director of IBA-Karachi and former governor of the central bank of Pakistan, ISB will offer open enrolment (short duration) and custom-designed programmes (specialised courses devised to cater to specific needs of a particular organisation) through its Centre for Executive Education (CEE). Source : 14-04-12   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan India Pitches For Employment Creation Policies Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has urged the Group of Twenty (G-20) countries to push for policies that create jobs.Mr. Mukherjee was speaking on the sidelines of the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Employment should be the mainstay of the G-20 framework. Credible action for both short- and medium-term policies to create jobs must be taken, he said. He pointed to the general concern over the bleak global employment scenario, especially the falling labour participation rate and youth unemployment. Persistent high unemployment tends to hold back economic recovery, with an adverse impact on productivity and growth in the medium to long term. Investment in infrastructure and manufacturing needs support to help revive global growth and support demand and job creation, Mr. Mukherjee added. This approach had not received the attention that it deserved. Source : 21-04-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Industrial Units Shifting To Rural Areas, Says Survey U.S.-based economists have found a shift in the distribution of industrial units in India's formal sector. The findings are based on the annual survey of industries of the Reserve Bank of India and the National Sample Survey Organisation. It has found a movement from urban to rural areas between 1994 and 2005. The urban share of the organised sector in total output, employment and number of plants has fallen by 9.3 percent, 10 percent, and 10.6 percent, respectively. For the unorganised sector, this share increased to 4.1 percent, 4.5 percent, and 2.4 percent, respectively. The key reason for the shift, it seems, is the change in composition of district-level education and infrastructure in relation to initial employment levels. Urbanisation was higher in districts with access to roads, electricity, telecommunications and safe drinking water as well as a bigger graduate-level labour force. Source : 21-04-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan More Experienced Hands Opt For B-School Courses Students with work experience seeking admission to B-schools have increased in number. Among the reasons behind the trend is the classroom experience and relative ease of placements. The share of such students has increased to 60 percent to 70 percent of the batch size at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Rohtak and XLRI Jamshedpur. The corresponding number was 30 percent to 40 percent just two to three years ago. The 2010 batch at IIM Calcutta, placed recently, had 34 percent freshers and 66 percent students with work experience, said Professor Amit Dhiman, chairperson at the institute. A majority of these students had an average experience of 10 months to two years. About 15 percent had work experience of more than 36 months, he said. At XLRI, too, there has been an increase in the average tenure from 10 months to two to three years. Source : 21-04-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan TCS On Track For Second Largest Workforce Globally Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is on its way to becoming the world's second largest IT company in terms of headcount, next only to Accenture. TCS has already outpaced its Indian peers in terms of size. As of December, TCS had 2.27 lakh employees on its rolls and is expected to touch a record three lakh by the end of this financial year. Accenture had an employee count of 2.46 lakh as of February this year. IBM is in the lead with a global headcount of 4.5 lakh. The numbers will become clearer when TCS announces its earnings. TCS is the only Indian company to have won two billion-dollar outsourcing deals in the last five years. The company has inked a $2.2 billion dollar deal with Friends Life in the U.K. and a $1.2 billion contract with ACNielsen. Source : 23-04-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Manufacturing Firms Top Finance As Office Guzzlers In a fresh indication of the growing importance of manufacturing in the country's economic growth, the sector has overtaken banking and financial services in terms of new office space requirement during the last fiscal year. Manufacturing includes pharmaceuticals, consumer durables, engineering and FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) firms under its ambit.The manufacturing sector accounted for 19% of the newly-constructed office space leased out during 2011-12, up from 13% during 2010-11, data available with real estate consultancy Knight Frank has said. Office space taken up by BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) dropped to 8% in 2011-12 from 13% in 2010-11.The IT and ITeS sectors continue to garner the lion's share in the quantum of new office space leased out, though they too witnessed a fall in their share to 52% in 2011-12 from 57% in 2010-11. Source : 21-04-12   Hindustan Times   Compiled by Amresh Anjan IMF Stresses Need For Structural Reforms The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged Indian policymakers to take definitive steps towards structural reforms, raise public and private investment and spur inclusive growth. In its annual assessment of the Indian economy, IMF noted that economic growth in the country had slowed to levels lower that last year's due to cyclical and structural inadequacies. Structural reforms and fiscal consolidation were needed to restore growth and ensure its inclusiveness. This could be achieved by simplifying procedures, making contracts more enforceable and facilitating land acquisition, IMF economists said. To support formal job creation, skill mismatches need to be addressed and flexibility brought about in the labour market. Reforms were also required in the financial sector. These include improving access to credit and diversifying funding sources. IMF expects the Indian economy to grow 7 percent in 2012-13. Source : 19-04-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Huawei To Recruit 4,000 For Bangalore Unit Huawei Telecommunications India is planning to hire 4,000 people for its second R&D centre in Bangalore. The $150 million facility will be operational by 2013. It will focus on research in internet protocol (IP) routers and operational software. India is a growth market for Huawei. The company is eyeing sectors such as power, energy, tele¬communications, banks and transportation, alongside government enterprises and public sector companies. It is looking at revenue of more than $200 million in enterprise business from some 200 clients in banking, energy, telecom and transport sectors. In 2011, it recorded overall sales of $1¬.2 billion. Huawei has a customer base of around 50 companies in the country, and is looking to increase it by a hundred more. Source : 18-04-12   Financial Chronicle   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Citigroup Shareholders Reject Executive Salary Plan In a stinging rebuke, Citigroup shareholders rebuffed the bank's $15 million pay package for its chief executive, Vikram S Pandit, marking the first time that stockowners have united in opposition to outsized compensation at a financial giant. The shareholder vote, which comes amid a rising national debate over income inequality, suggests that anger over pay for chief executives has spread from Occupy Wall Street to wealthy institutional investors like pension fund and mutual fund managers. About 55% of the shareholders voting were against the plan, which laid out compensation for the bank's five top executives, including Mr. Pandit. Source : 18-04-12   Hindustan Times   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Better Disclosure On Exec Pay A Key Concern More companies are seeking disclosures regarding executive pay. According to a survey conducted by Hay Group, executive pay topped the list of corporate governance issues in the study, titled "Corporate governance and executive pay: Taking the pulse". Almost all the companies polled were in favour of some form of executive pay disclosure. Not many respondents, including investors and regulators, wanted to see more disclosure than was at present required. Instead, they sought an improved quality of disclosures rather than quantity. Regulators are concerned that greater disclosure has had a ratchet effect, with companies continuously pushing up levels of executive pay to match those reported by peers. The concern that executives are paid too much is largely a political issue, the report said. Nine out of 10 companies said the market levels and individual performance justify how much they pay. Source : 19-04-12   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Cigniti Technologies Appoints COO Software testing services company Cigniti Technologies has named Raj Neravati as COO. Before this, he was senior vice president of global delivery at Applabs. Source : 19-04-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Lay-Offs Hit Telecom, Execs Face Uncertainty Lay-offs have struck the telecom sector workforce after the Supreme Court cancelled many 2G licences. A large number of professionals face uncertainty as companies wind up operations. Etisalat, a UAE-based company that has since filed for liquidation, is one such firm that is laying off staff. About 35 senior employees were told to consider positions in Nigeria and Tanzania. The remaining 450 received no word at all. The employees were not given termination letters because that would entitle them to three months' salary as per their contracts, a former employee said. A situation was created where the employees would quit on their own. The staff was informed by the HR department that Etisalat would not be able to pay any more salaries. Pay for March was ultimately given after the Bombay High Court intervened. Source : 18-04-12   The Indian Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Wipro Technologies Names CMO Wipro Technologies, the information technology, consulting and outsourcing business of Wipro Ltd, has appointed Ms Suchira Iyer as its Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), IT Business.Ms Iyer will report to TK Kurien, CEO, IT Business and Executive Director, Wipro Ltd, according to a press statement. She replaces Mr Rajan Kohli who has been appointed as the vertical head for the banking business, after a two-year stint as the CMO. Source : 18-04-12   Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Shrinking Margins To Hit Bonuses At Brokerages Broking houses are likely to award small bonuses this year as margins shrink. Bonuses will be kept to a minimum and only top performers will be entitled to them, said B Gopkumar, head of broking at Kotak Securities. Brokers are trying to rein in fixed costs in a market where revenue from clients is diminishing. Revenues for most brokerages have almost halved in the last four to five years, said Prasanth Prabhakaran, president, retail broking, IIFL. This is the second year in a row that bonuses for brokerage houses have shrunk. Last year, several domestic broking houses delayed bonuses, and employees had to do with much less than what they had expected. Increments will take a hit too, ranging from 7 percent to 8 percent, market participants said. To make up for declining revenues, top domestic brokers are diversifying into retail lending and wealth advisory. Source : 17-04-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Baring Private Equity Names Partners Baring Private Equity Partners (India) has promoted two senior executives. Amit Chander, who has been responsible for deals in healthcare, IT/ITeS and education space, has been named partner along with Keshav Misra, who looks after exit strategies and is director on the boards of several portfolio companies. Source : 14-04-12   Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

www.amreshanjan.co.cc