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| H-1B visa: Why is India quiet on US protectionism? |
| India finds itself without friends on Capitol Hill in the US when it needs them most, as its companies appear to be in imminent danger of copping the worst of the immigration reform bill. A US senator accused Indian IT giants with big US operations - Infosys, TCS and Wipro - of misusing H-1B visas, needed for highly-skilled foreign workers."H-1B visas are not going to Microsoft; they're going to these firms, largely in India, who are finding workers, engineers, who will work at low wages in the US," said Senator Richard Durbin, at a senate hearing on Monday. He had listed out "these firms" as Infosys, Wipro and Tata. But the senator's views on these issues are known and, therefore, no one was surprised. "What got me was the lack of support for India there - no one defended them," said a US official who did not want to be named. Microsoft's Mr. Brad Smith, a witness at the hearing, said: "I personally think it's important that we both recognise the need for these firms to evolve their business model."Infosys, TCS and Wipro are among the top recipients of H-1B firms every year - 5,600, 7,469 and 4,304 respectively in 2012. There is an annual cap of 65,000 on these visas. These firms are expected to be hit hard by a comprehensive reform bill authored by Senator Durbin and seven other senators - called the Gang of Eight - under discussion. The bill argues that American jobs are being shipped abroad, and proposes to make it harder and more expensive for heavy H-1B users to bring in workers."Information technology services would be disadvantaged by such changes," Ms. Nirupama Rao, India's ambassador to the US, wrote in a recent op-ed in USA Today.TCS, Infosys, and Wipro did not offer any comments. Industry body Nasscom felt that the debate was being twisted out of context. "The Indian IT companies operating in the US follow all processes as mandated for the H-1B visa system," said Mr. Som Mittal, president Nasscom."The issue of skilled workers travelling for short duration is unfortunately being linked to the larger debate on immigration. It does not take into account the contribution of the Indian IT industry to the United States economy. The industry has added significantly to the US competitiveness ... and to the community," Mr. Mittal said. |
| Source : 24-04-13 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| HSBC to cut about 2,000 UK jobs under revamp |
| HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, is set to cut about 2,000 jobs in Britain on Thursday as part of its drive to slash costs and boost profitability in the face of a changing banking landscape, a person familiar with the matter said. The cuts are part of chief executive Mr. Stuart Gulliver's global revamp to cut 30,000 jobs by the end of 2013, and to streamline the bank for changes in UK regulation, people familiar with the matter said. |
| Source : 24-04-13 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| Mr. Nikesh Arora highest paid at Google with $46.7 mn |
| Indian-born Mr. Nikesh Arora, the head of Google's business operations, leads the pack of highest paid employees at the search engine giant with a compensation package value at $46.7 million (Rs 255 crore) last year, according to regulatory filings on Wednesday. Mr. Arora, a graduate of the Banaras Hindu University Institute of Technology at Varanasi, is the fourth ranking in the organisation after co-founder and CEO Mr. Larry Page, executive chairman Mr. Eric Schmidt and co-founder Mr. Sergey Brin. He also serves on the board of India's Bharti Airtel Ltd. The calculation by the Associated Press counts salary, bonuses, perks and stock and options awarded to each executive. Mr. Page and his long-time partner Mr. Brin limited their salaries to $1 apiece last year, while four other top executives received combined compensation packages totalling more than $124 million. The breakdown disclosed consists mostly of stock awards that could ultimately be worth more or less money, depending on how Google's stock price fares in the future. |
| Source : 26-04-13 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| US jobless claims register surprising fall |
| The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week by a surprisingly large 16,000, offering reassurance that the bottom is not falling out of the labour market despite signs of slower growth in March and April, the US labour department said. |
| Source : 26-04-13 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| Spanish unemployment rate at record 27.16% |
| Spain's unemployment rate climbed to a new record of 27.16% in the first quarter of 2013, official data showed on Thursday, as a deep recession sparked by the collapse of a property bubble ravages the euro zone's fourth-largest economy. The jobless rate jumped from 26.02% in the previous quarter. The number of unemployed climbed by 237,400 people to 6.2 million, the National Statistics Institute said. Spain, once the motor of job creation in the 17-nation single currency area is in a double dip recession, having yet to recover from the collapse in 2008 of a labour-intensive property boom in 2008 which had allowed economic growth to outpace the European union's for more than a decade. The Spanish economy contracted by 1.37% last year, the second worst yearly slump since 1970, and the government forecasts it will shrink again by between 1.0% and 1.5% this year. Spain's jobless rate fell to an almost 30-year low of 7.95% in the second quarter of 2007 at the peak of an economic boom that allowed the country to create more than half the new jobs in the euro zone between 2002 and 2005. But the jobless rate has risen steadily every quarter since as the country's housing market collapsed |
| Source : 26-04-13 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| Government mulls linking bank staff wages to performance |
| State-owned banks, which employ over 800,000 people, could move towards performance-based pay soon, a move that would put them on the same platform as their private sector peers, while helping keep costs under check. A committee headed by Mr. Anil Khandelwal, former chairman and managing director of Bank of Baroda, which had looked into outdated human resource practices at public sector banks, had proposed that salaries be linked to performance. The committee submitted its report two years ago. This suggestion could now become part of the new wage structure. Talks have already started between banking unions and IBA on wage revision. In 2009, when the last pay revision was announced, public sector bank employees got a 17.5% hike, with retrospective effect from November 1, 2007.While Indian Banks' Association is in favour of bringing uniform compensation culture among private and public sector banks, banking unions are opposed to moving to a performance-based pay structure. About 30% of the staff in government banks would retire by this year. "Talent crunch is a major factor and until we look into the HR policies, it would be difficult for us to attract talent, especially in this competitive environment," a senior executive at large public sector bank, who did not wish to be identified, told Hindustan Times. The attrition rate in state-owned banks has also increased significantly in the last few years, with a large number of banks coming up in the private sector space and offering substantially more attractive pay packages. The Khandelwal Committee report noted that there was an acute shortage of talent in PSU banks, and fresh graduates were reluctant to join a government bank as they failed to provide concrete career growth path to their employees. The report also underlined that instead of the present industry-level arrangement, wage decisions should percolate to the bank level. At present there are 26 public sector banks in India. |
| Source : 25-04-13 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| Ms. Archana Bhargava is new CMD of United Bank |
| United Bank of India (UBI), on Wednesday, said Ms. Archana Bhargava has been appointed Chairman and Managing Director of the bank. "Ms. Archana Bhargava, Executive Director, Canara Bank, has been appointed ... as Chairman & Managing Director of the bank with effect from the date of her taking over the charge till February 20, 2015, or until further orders, whichever is earlier," United Bank of India said in a filing on the BSE. |
| Source : 25-04-13 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| Mr. Dmitry Shukov to take over as SSTL CEO from Mr. Vsevolod Rozanov |
| Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL), which operates CDMA-based mobile telecom services under the MTS brand in India, on Wednesday, said Mr. Dmitry Shukov will be its new CEO and will assume charge from June 1. Mr. Vsevolod Rozanov, the current president and CEO of the company, will be shifted to the parent company Sistema JSFC at a senior position. "The details of Mr. Vsevolod's new role will be announced by Sistema JSFC after completion of all due corporate procedures," said a statement issued by the company. At the helm of SSTL since October 2008, Mr. Rozanov is credited for setting up the company's green field operations in India, implementing data-centric voice enabled strategy, developing MTS India brand, and successfully navigating a series of challenging legal and regulatory issues. Mr. Shukov, the new CEO is an MTS veteran and was previously the CEO of MTS Turkmenistan and MTS Uzbekistan. "Mr. Shukov has a wealth of operational experience, business acumen, and inspirational leadership needed to spearhead SSTL's growth," said Mr. Mikhail Shamolin, president, Sistema JSFC. |
| Source : 25-04-13 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| Management graduates at FMS bag annual package of Rs.60 lakh |
| An annual salary package of Rs. 60 lakh is what a student at the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University, has got this year. According to the annual placement report released on Sunday, out of 216 students in the batch, five opted out of placements and 46 had secured pre-placement offers. Of the remaining 165 students, 155 got placed this year. The management institute did not disclose the names of the students who get placed. While FMS has said the year has been satisfactory despite a "gloomy economic scenario", the highest package in both the domestic and the international sector has seen a drop this year. Last year the highest domestic package was Rs. 32 lakh per annum. This year, the figure has come down to Rs. 26.8 lakh. The international package, which was Rs. 70 lakh per annum last year, has reportedly come down to Rs. 60 lakh this year. The median salary, however, has seen an increase of 14% this year and has increased to 16 lakh per annum. This year 93 companies participated in the placement process. Out of these 31 were new recruiters. The highest number of students has been placed in the sales and marketing (39%) followed by consulting and general management (27%) and banking, financial services and insurance (21%). "With the number of offers in consulting increasing steadily over the past few years, this year saw the largest ever participation in this domain at FMS. Some of the coveted firms who hired from FMS were The Boston Consulting Group, Accenture Management Consulting, Deloitte, Capgemini, Ernst & Young and Bain Capability Centre," the placement report read. "Capgemini Management Consulting was the largest recruiter with 12 offers. General management roles were amongst the most sought after on campus this year. |
| Source : 29-04-13 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| Panel to resolve Saudi job law issue |
| India and Saudi Arabia have agreed to set up a joint working group to address "all immediate problems" facing the Indian community including issues related to overstaying Indian workers and the Kingdom's new labour policy. The decision to form the joint working group was taken during the meeting held between the Indian delegation, led by Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Mr. Vayalar Ravi and Saudi Arabia's Minister of Labour Mr. Adel Fakieh. The two sides agreed that the first meeting of this joint group will be held on May 1, a statement released by the Indian embassy in Riyadh said. The visit is aimed at exchanging views with the Saudi leadership on the welfare of the Indian community in the context of its Nitaqat programme, the statement said. The visit also aimed at briefing the Indian community in Saudi Arabia on the specific steps that the Indian government has taken for the rehabilitation of the returning Indians and addressing their concern in this regard. "We had met the Indian community workers before my meeting with the Saudi authorities. We will be meeting the community again on Monday and in Riyadh on Tuesday. The delegation understood the issues and took it up with the Saudi leadership appropriately. "The issues include implementation of Nitaqat programme and also regularising the status of overstaying workers and their return to India," the statement quoted the Minister as saying. The Indian delegation has also conveyed its concern over the Nitaqat programme. Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed and adviser to Prime Minister Mr. T K A Nair were also part of the delegation. The 'Nitaqat' law makes it mandatory for local companies to hire one Saudi national for every 10 migrant workers. There has been widespread perception that the new policy will lead to denial of job opportunities for a large number of Indians working there. |
| Source : 30-04-13 Deccanherald.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| Tata Steel to shut UK technology centres, job cuts expected |
| Steel giant Tata Steel has reportedly warned the British government that it plans to shut down two research and development facilities in the country and shift them overseas including to India, resulting in 300-400 job cuts in the UK. In a move that will be seen as a major blow to Britain's already struggling industrial base, the company plans to close its technology centres on Teesside, in the north-east of England, and in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, over the next 18 months. A source told 'The Sunday Times' that Tata Steel may then shift this research to the Netherlands and India, resulting in 300-400 job cuts in the UK. In November last year, the company had revealed plans to restructure its British business, which is expected to lead to 12 site closures and 900 job losses. Its Europe operations have been hit by a combination of high energy costs, falling demand and plummeting steel prices, which have fallen by 5 per cent in the past month. Demand has slumped 30 per cent since 2007, largely as a result of China's slowing growth rate putting the brakes on its appetite for the metal. The European steel operations of Tata, a result of its acquisition of Corus back in 2007 for an estimated 6.7 billion pounds, is believed to be operating with towering debts of 3.4 billion pounds. Tata Steel employs around 19,000 workers in Britain and controls 46 per cent of the domestic market. Despite the tough environment, it has invested hundreds of millions of pounds in the British operations, including 185 million pounds on a new blast furnace at Port Talbot in South Wales — the company's prime asset in the UK. Its other large plant in Scunthorpe produces flat-steel products, used mainly in the construction and infrastructure markets. Tata has previously dismissed talk of selling some of its British assets but it is believed the company may seek a partner to invest in its Lincolnshire plant. |
| Source : 28-04-13 Thehindu.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| Job fraud cases haunt automobile sector |
| The automobile sector has been seeing increasing incidents of recruitment fraud in recent quarters, according to human resource personnel. Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Bajaj Auto have noted a rise in these incidents. "While a decade ago, these used to be isolated incidents of a handful of unsuspecting individuals being defrauded by miscreants, today, the scale at which fraudsters operate is a serious concern," a spokesman for Tata Motors, which has reported 200 such cases in the last two years, told Business Standard. The way these individuals operate is distinct. Job-seekers are sent an email or an SMS wherein the name of a prominent auto company is used. These fraudsters ask for payment by cash or cheque to an account. They register domain IDs which sound similar to the ones used by organisations of repute, emailing thousands of unsuspecting job seekers, who could be fresh out of college or from Tier-II or Tier-III cities, or rural areas, inviting applications with security deposits. "In one such case, a malefactor claiming to be an agent of the organisation met an innocent job seeker and demanded money for permanent appointment. The agent was never seen again by the job seeker. As incidence of fraud get more organised and established, fraudsters have progressed to using the names of company officials, making the entire experience of a job search so real and genuine. They have communication formats, too, to make them appear real, with the use of registered trademarks," said the Tata Motors spokesperson. |
| Source : 29-04-13 Business-standard.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| Tech freshers' pay caught in 4-year time warp |
| India's $108-billion IT industry is among the country's largest organised private sector employers, but the bottom of the sector's pyramid appears to have little to cheer about. While the overall wage hike in the IT sector has dropped to single digits of late, the salaries of freshers, who are typically engineering graduates and form the largest chunk of recruits, has remained stagnant in the past three to four years. Experts say this trend is likely to prolong as firms navigate a difficult business environment. Staffing companies point out that in the current market, on average, a fresher in the software services industry draws a salary in the range of R2.75-3.5 lakh per annum when compared to R2.75-3.3 lakh offered during 2008-09. Thanks to increasing margin pressure, demand-supply imbalance, declining business volumes and rising training costs, pay packages at the entry level have not seen an upward swing in the recent past. This is at a time when prices in the country have grown by more than 8% in each of these years. TV Mohandas Pai, chairman, Manipal Global Education and former director at Infosys, opined that the freshers' salary is likely to remain at the same level for some more years due to the demand-supply mismatch. "The hiring numbers by IT companies has come down due to their slowing growth but the number of graduating engineers has been increasing," he said. The IT industry absorbs around 250,000 engineering graduates every year but the annual output is around 600,000 students, giving them lesser bargaining power in a market-driven economy. |
| Source : 29-04-13 Indianexpress.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| Slowdown clouds hover over IT recruitment |
| Mr. Ajoy Mukherjee's human resource team at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) might have less resumes to wade through this hiring season. Reason: Attrition has dropped in the past year and joining rates of freshers have gone up to around 75 per cent from 70 per cent earlier."Given the macro business environment and our retention strategy, there is a drop," says Mr. Mukherjee, who is the HR head and Vice-President, TCS. Information technology (IT) companies across the board say engineering graduates this year are readily accepting job offers unlike past years when they were far choosier. Engineering institutes say the glut in the market, a bleak economy, drying up of job offers and a changing business mix have turned the tide in favour of the IT companies. The changing business mix of IT companies has meant incremental growth from analytics, consulting, IMS, BPO, etc, each of which requires employees with different skill profiles. A professor from SRM University, from where most IT companies have been hiring, agrees: "We see changes in the hiring pattern in the days to come. More and more engineers would also be absorbed by IT companies if they are good in mathematics and statistics. Computational skills would be more important than language skills. This will mean institutes will also tinker with the syllabus, as market forces will influence it." On campuses, IT companies, which were the biggest hirers, recruiting in bulk, have either picked up a fourth of their usual requirements or been absent. Engineering institutions say there has been a nearly 40 per cent dip in recruitment and 30 per cent dip in the number of companies coming for recruitment. |
| Source : 29-04-13 Business-standard.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| About 42% faculty positions in IITs vacant: says Mr. Shashi Tharoor |
| In the 16 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), approximately 42% faculty positions in the IITs are vacant, said Mr. Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for Human Resource Development. Further, almost half of faculty positions in National Institutes of Technology (NITs) are vacant. Giving this information in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today, Mr. Tharoor said that to mitigate current shortages, these institutes are engaging faculty on contract and visiting faculty. He said that the main reason for these shortages is that while the minimum qualification for faculty recruitment in these institutes is a Ph.D, many of the students after completion of their B.Tech/ M.Tech programmes, get placements in companies/ corporations and do not opt for the teaching profession. There are 16 IITs and 30 NITs in the country at present. The IITs plan suitable strategies to attract and retain quality faculty members, said Mr.Tharoor. "To achieve this, IITs will do year-round open advertisements, holding of selection committee meetings through video conferencing, invitation to alumni, scientists, faculty from India and abroad to reach out to potential candidates, advertisements in international journals to attract the attention of professionals abroad, and introducing young faculty award, etc," he said. The government has decided to allow faculty working under the Central Government or Central Autonomous Bodies, to join the newly set up Central Education Institutes on long-term deputation, for a period of 10-years. The institutes are also free to appoint Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) to permanent faculty position. |
| Source : 29-04-13 Business-standard.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
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