| | Educomp cuts 3,500 jobs |
| | Education solutions provider Educomp Solutions said it had cut 3,500 jobs in the last three months and had also initiated measures to spur growth. "Educomp has announced a slew of measures aimed at putting the company back on a growth trajectory at a time when market sentiment is adversely impacting bottom lines across industry, and has pushed the education sector into negative growth territory," it said in a release. |
| | Source : 17-08-13 Thehindu.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| | Network 18 hands out pink slips to 325 employees |
| | As part of a massive restructuring plan, the Network 18 Group today has handed out pink slips to an estimated 325 employees across its channels. "A large number of people have been asked to leave. The sections that have been hit the most in the process of retrenchment are cameramen and technicians. Many morning news anchors have also been asked to leave," said a source. Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai, editor-in-chief IBN 18 network, tweeted, "Hurt and pain can be lonely. You must grieve in solitude." An employee in Mumbai, who was given the termination letter, said, "We were called to the office and were simply handed the letters. Almost the entire crew at IBN7 has been asked to leave. Those of us who have not been given the termination letters are in terror of being handed one any moment. Executives in Independent Media Trust and from the human resources department from the network sat at the round table putting the termination letters in the respective envelopes and stamping them. It looked like a post office, the way they were stamping letters in the conference room." |
| | Source : 17-08-13 Indianexpress.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| | ArcelorMittal to cut jobs in India |
| | ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel producer, said that it would downsize its workforce in India. This follows the company's decision to pull out of its $12-billion venture in Odisha. "As we have made slower than anticipated progress with our India projects, the requirements for the number of people on the ground have reduced," the company said in a statement. The steel maker could exit two more projects in India because the progress has not been satisfactory. The projects in Karnataka and Jharkhand involved investments of $18 billion. Chairman Mr. Lakshmi Mittal, while commenting on the April-June quarter results, said ArcelorMittal may think of exiting these two projects if no substantial progress is made soon. "There is a progress in these States (Karnataka and Jharkhand), but at the same time, we would like to make it clear that these progresses are still not very satisfactory, we will have to continue to watch and see what is the progress. "The company, however, said that the downsizing does not impact its ability to continue to work on the two remaining projects in Jharkhand and Karnataka. |
| | Source : 12-08-13 Thehindubusinessline.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| | IIM-A Ropes in Mr. Ashish Nanda; Appoints New Director |
| | Harvard professor and alumnus of 1983 batch of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Mr. Ashish Nanda is bought in as the Director of his old institute. A statement from the institute said that while Mr. Nanda would presume charge of the top job on September 2, he will visit the campus for a few days starting from 15th of August to become familiar with his team at the institution, as reported on the Indian Express. Coming out with a statement regarding the appointment of Mr. Nanda as the director, Chairman of Board of Governors and Society Mr. A M Naik said that Professor Nanda, has the right blend of international know-how and familiarity with IIM-A to lead the institute to new heights in the coming future. |
| | Source : 19-08-13 Jobs.siliconindia.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| | AirAsia India might delay launch plans |
| | AirAsia India, the airline joint venture between Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia and India's Tata Group that was expected to launch operations before Diwali (November 3) this year, may postpone its take-off due to delays in regulatory clearances. The company, which has so far recruited 200 staff, is expected to have around 470 employees by the time it starts the first phase of operations, said Mr. Mittu Chandilya, chief executive of Air Asia (India) Pvt Ltd. The company is now waiting for the no objection certificate (NOC) from the ministries of home affairs and civil aviation, after which it has to get the air operator's permit from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which is the flying licence, Mr. Chandilya told reporters on the side-lines of a function. |
| | Source : 19-08-13 Business-standard.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| | IITs to engage with ranking agencies |
| | Let down by the poor ranking of the country's premier institutes of technology -- IITs/NITs -- its directors are set to hold talks with the ranking organisations and improve their global position. For the past three years, none of the IITs/NITs has figured in the top 100 of the world's best. The directors of IITs had met last month to set up a committee and discuss ways to reach such ranking organisations. "The idea is to devise ways to engage with ranking organisations for them to better understand how our institutes function. It is unreasonable to equate a 500-year old university/institute with a recently formed IIT. These rankings show India in poor light," IIT-Guwahati director Mr. Gautam Barua told NewsindiaExpress. He said the proposed dialogue process would help the ranking organisations understand the limits and constraints within which institutes in India work. |
| | Source : 17-08-13 Newindianexpress.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| | Firms take green-card shortcut |
| | While more number of Indian companies and organisations are now applying for green cards, the number of green cards sanctioned to Indians in 2012 surged multiple times, compared to past years. According to a recent New York Times article based on the data sourced from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the number of Indians given green cards in 2012 stood at 35,472, a jump of almost six times over the previous year. Almost half of the total green cards issued in the US in 2012 were given to Indians. In 2010, just 4,607 green cards were issued to Indians. Industry experts say while the US authorities may have granted Indians the unused quota meant for other countries, which they usually do, Indian companies, especially information technology (IT) firms, are now becoming extra cautious to meet the local hiring criteria by employing green card holders. It is primarily because, under the new immigration reforms Bill, green card holders are considered at par with local American citizens. IT companies are also using green card as an effective tool to retain the employees. |
| | Source : 10-08-13 Business-standard.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| | Too many doctors quitting government hospitals, Health department steps in with revised rules |
| | In a bid to curb the alarmingly high attrition rate among doctors employed in Delhi government hospitals, the Department of Health has revamped its service rules. With the state government struggling to formalise its own cadre of medical personnel under Delhi Government Health Services (DGHS), all new recruits are hired on contract basis as an interim arrangement. A senior official in the Health department said, "Since all our recruitments will be on contract basis till the DGHS cadre is regularised, we are faced with allegations of lack of transparency in the hiring process, excessive recruitment in some hospitals while others are short of doctors. In several cases, particularly in super-specialty departments, attrition rates are sometimes as high as 70-80 per cent." The official said the decision to revamp service rules was taken as the government planned to start several new hospitals before the regularisation of DGHS. "Doctors join us and leave within a few months, causing inconvenience to patients. It also stops us from making several of our hospitals fully functional due to a shortage of manpower," he said. |
| | Source : 12-08-13 Indianexpress.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| | New scheme to provide skills, jobs for over 40 lakh rural youth |
| | One youth from each rural household that completes 100 days of work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme will be eligible for skill training and job placement under the National Skill Development Scheme. This will bring around 36-45 lakh rural youth under the scheme, as around 8-10 per cent of the 4.5 crore rural households get 100 days of jobs under the rural job scheme. "There will be post-placement support and hand-holding for one to two years," Rural Development Minister, Mr. Jairam Ramesh, while launching the National Skill Certification and Monetary Reward Scheme said. This scheme was announced by Finance Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram. In his Budget speech earlier this year, Mr. Chidambaram proposed to allocate Rs 1,000 crore to the scheme, which aims to motivate youth to acquire vocational skills. The scheme is expected to benefit 10 lakh people in the first year of its implementation. Each tested and certified trainee will get an average of Rs 10,000 to cover training costs. The scheme, branded as STAR (Standard Training Assessment and Reward) for promotional purposes, envisages that a monetary reward will, in essence, help those who wish to acquire a new skill or upgrade skills. Mr. Chidambaram said if creating jobs was important, then providing better skills was equally important, which is why the new scheme had been launched. |
| | Source : 16-08-13 Thehindubusinessline.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| | Nokia Siemens is said to mull 8,500 job cuts to boost profit |
| | Nokia Siemens Networks, the phone- equipment maker that Nokia Oyj is fully taking over, is considering reducing about 8,500 jobs to boost profitability, according to three people familiar with the matter. A scenario being discussed would bring its workforce to 42,000 by the end of 2014, or a 17% reduction, partly through selling or shutting down plants and farming out manufacturing, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal targets. Nokia Siemens had about 50,500 workers at the end of June. No final decisions have been made and any plans would have to be approved by sole owner Nokia. |
| | Source : 07-08-13 Livemint.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| | Management changes at Infosys will help optimise costs: Analysts |
| | The recent management changes at Infosys would help the company to centralise some decision making and optimise costs, opine analysts. India's thirds largest exporter appointed Mr. Ranganath D Mavinakere, Mr. Binod Hampapur Rangadore and Nithyanandan Radhakrishnan as members to its Executive Council. Further, all three of them will be reporting to Chairman Mr. N.R. Narayana Murthy. Analysts and industry watchers opine that these appointments were made in key areas at an important juncture. Mr. Mavinakere will head the cost optimisation initiative, Mr. Rangadore will head delivery of software projects from across geographies and Mr. Radhakrishnan who heads the legal department within the company will all report to Mr. Murthy. "This move clearly indicates that he wants to directly handle certain functions," said Mr. A.K. Prabhakar, Senior Vice-President - Equity Research, Anand Rathi. Mr. Prabhakar's views are echoed by others in the industry who feel that with Mr. Murthy's comeback, decisions pertaining to some of the key pain points for the company will be addressed sooner rather than later. |
| | Source : 20-08-13 Thehindubusinessline.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| | Death of government employee doesn't entitle kin for job |
| | Supreme Court has held that death of a government employee in harness does not entitle the family to claim compassionate employment and the person seeking appointment must possess the eligibility for the post. A bench of justices BS Chauhan and SA Bobde also said that the competent authority should examine the financial condition of family of the deceased and job should be offered to the eligible family member only if it is satisfied that they would not be able to cope up with the crisis. "Mere death of a government employee in harness does not entitle the family to claim compassionate employment. The competent authority has to examine the financial condition of the family of the deceased employee and it is only if it is satisfied that without providing employment, the family will not be able to meet the crisis that a job is to be offered to the eligible member of the family. More so, the person claiming such appointment must possess required eligibility for the post," it said. |
| | Source : 20-08-13 Hindustantimes.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| | Ratnakar Bank sets the stage for bigger play |
| | It is extremely rare for an old-generation private sector Indian bank to buy the assets of a foreign bank. But Ratnakar Bank, which last week announced the purchase of some of Royal Bank of Scotland's India portfolio for an undisclosed amount, could hardly be described as an old-generation bank. The Kolhapur-based lender, which is also known in the banking circles as the NH4 bank since a majority of its business comes from cities in and around the 1,235-kilometer-long National Highway that connects four of the 10 most populous cities in India from Pune to Chennai, is led by a team of professionals recruited mostly from foreign and other big private banks. Its chief, Mr. Vishwavir Ahuja, is the former CEO of Bank of America's India business; head of strategy and markets, Mr. Rajeev Ahuja, joined from Citi, and head of corporate and institutional banking, Mr. R Gurumurthy, has worked with Standard Chartered Bank. The senior leadership team also consists of professionals who have worked with Deutsche Bank, Bharti AXA Life Insurance and YES Bank. |
| | Source : 14-08-13 Business-standard.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| | Engaging employees through games |
| | Many organizations in India use gamification as a platform to engage, train, hire and improve the productivity of their employees. "In India, it is still majorly being used as a marketing tool. But globally, for companies like SAP AG, Microsoft Corp. (Project Communicate Hope) and Siemens AG (Project Plantville), gamification is a known tactic for employee recruitment, training and productivity," said Mr. Chaitanya Prabhu, business head, India, Zapak Digital Entertainment. L'Oreal India Pvt. Ltd and HCL Technologies Ltd use gamification for recruitment. "Games are a very important part of the recruitment strategy," said Mr. Mohit James, director, HR, L'Oreal. The games reflect the company's innovative approach to business and attract students from a wide variety of disciplines, including L'Oreal Brandstorm for marketing, "R U HR" for human resources and Reveal by L'Oréal, a business game. "A successful gaming platform should have the concept of win and lose points and some kind of peer-to-peer interaction," said Mr. Naveen Narayanan, global head, talent acquisition, HCL Technologies. The Deloitte Leadership Academy (DLA) training programme embeds badges and leaderboards into a platform alongside video lectures, in-depth courses, tests and quizzes to engage users, and make it more likely for them to complete the online training programmes. |
| | Source : 14-08-13 Livemint.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
| | Sears Canada cuts 245 jobs, outsourcing IT positions to India and the Philippines |
| | Sears Canada is laying off 245 workers, the lion's share in its information technology department, with plans to replace them by partnering with companies that outsource to India and the Philippines, a senior spokesperson confirmed. The company's finance department will also take a hit with 99 job losses, along with eight in payroll, said Mr. Vince Power, the retailer's vice-president of corporate affairs and communications. "For Sears to continue maintaining its systems, it's going to take a lot of investment. We want to invest in our core retail business — which are things like improving the stores, store presentation, e-commerce," Mr. Power said in a phone interview. "For us to keep up to date with certain systems in IT and in finance and accounting, [we need] to divert some of that investment." The 138 laid-off IT employees will be replaced by Filipino workers in Sears Canada's partnership with technology giant IBM. Sears Canada is also looking to new vendor Wipro Ltd., an Indian outsourcing service company, to replace the rest of its discharged force. |
| | Source : 29-08-13 Business.financialpost.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan |
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