Attrition and Hiring in India

As the economic recession is melting down, the companies are in the phase of hiring new employees. With the recession there was seen changes in the percentage of attrition. The attrition rate at present in India is about 9-11% which was 18-20% earlier. This has happened because of less available job opportunities as compared to the past. The number of lay offs are also less in India as compared to the rest of world. In India 12.6% companies are considering to lay off their employees whereas in US 55% of companies are doing this. China is at 30.6%, Japan at 17% and Australia at 32.4%.

But with the squeezing of economic recession, new jobs can again give rise to the problem of attrition in India. BPO sector in India has the highest attrition rate. Gone are the days when people used to stick to one job & got retired from the same job after 25-30 years. The trend has changed a lot. Now everyone wants to grow at much faster pace & keep looking for job change & satisfaction. As per the Hay Group's report, the attrition rate in BPO is 23.5% that is followed by Communications (22%) & Retail (18%). The IT industry is seeing 15-16% attrition rate. The major reasons citied are no post job benefits like pension & PF with very less basic salary. Apart from this numerations & bonuses are also very less as compared to other industries that are leading to attrition. Further if the companies will not think from the employee's perspective then the never ending attrition will further increase.

Most of the Call center or BPO sector hire freshers with or without graduation. So when they get experience of one or two years they look for more greener pasture and thus change the job for more salary & position. But if the attrition rate is compared to the last two to three years then for year 2009 there has been a decrease. This is because of the less availability of new job opportunities due to recession. Attrition at senior level is further low than the executive level because of the job satisfaction both on professional & financial front.

Many companies thus to solve this problem are looking for employees who are already employed. Companies are taking lateral entry that means hiring employees from the other company at same level & salary. Although in India there are anti-poaching laws but yet this is being practiced.

The sectors of financial services, insurance, telecom & retail are seeing major recruitments. New companies & extensions along with the less availability of talent in these sectors have led to more job recruitments in these sectors. As per Manpower Consultants, the employment service providers, there is a scope of 25% employment in India for fourth quarter in 2009 which was 19% in the first quarter. Kotak Mahindra Bank is hiring around 750 people by the end of this year. 100 employees will be freshers. Capegemini is also on the way of hiring employees and expected to increase the work force to 40,000 from 17,000 by 2010. Also major hiring will be seen in Deloitte that was once facing the high attrition.

So overall it can be seen that with the expansion of the companies, the hiring is on. Present day employers are looking for the quality rather than quantity. So you as an employee can brush up your talent to grab the matching job opportunity that will be knocking your door soon.

Recession Layoff: Warning Signs

The ongoing recession has left almost everybody in jeopardy of losing their jobs. Following are some of the warning signs that should be kept in mind to recognize the possibility of a corporate bankruptcy or unemployment.

1.If the company starts hiring a consultant then one must be prepared that job cuts and lay offs are on the cards.

2.A bad assessment or review is also a warning bell. If your colleague is bestowed with a positive review then you might be on the hit list. You should definitely start worrying once your managers complains about the recession and layoffs.

3.If the company is experiencing low profits and the sales are also down, then it is the time to worry. Profits and pay cheque are directly proportional, hence a decrease in the profit will directly influence decrease in the pay. Thus, when a company is rendering losses, then it will surely start cutting the number of employees.

4.If your company is slashing the present salary of the employees then become sure that your organization is in deep trouble. The situation can also appear dim in case there is a pay freeze. This too means that the company is facing a precarious condition.

5.When people are being laid off and hiring has come down to minimal, then it is advisable for you to start looking for an alternative. You never know when you many be thunderstruck with the lighting of unemployment.

6.If your company on the verger of a merger then it implies that something big is happening for good or worse. Since merger puts any company in a very negotiable position, there is a chance that the employees will be sacked. This happens a lot in IT Jobs.

7.When too many rumors are being circulated in the market and the company officials are sitting with their lips sealed then there is a reason to worry.

These are some of the most common warning signs that implicate that your job is in danger. However, there are certain industries like auto industry and various manufacturing industries wherein the job stability is very less. Sometimes, even when your company is making profits but the industry is wavering, then your job might be far from being safe. Keep these warning signals is mind, especially during recession to keep yourself prepared for any catastrophe.

Keep in mind before closing Job Offer

If you belong to the genre of those job seekers who enjoy multiple job opportunities in their kitty, then you have more reasons to be worried. Choosing the right job from amongst many offers can be a tricky decision and it can change the life of a person drastically. Here is a rescue. Below are some of the most trusted facts that should be kept in mind while choosing an offer.

Know About the Company

Before you plan to join any company, it is important that you know about the company throughly. Visiting the company's website is the way to do it. Besides, you should also be aware of the job profile and the offer of the company in order to compare the best deal. To have the best opinion, contact the candidates who have been interviewed before or ask the skill and employability department and the HR people regarding their company's policies.

Define Your Priorities

In order to ensure that you choose the best company that suits you the most, define your priorities. For example, if a brand is more important, then you can opt for the company that has a good reputation, compromising even if the salary is a little less. Some of the most common priorities of any person includes, money, job satisfaction and professional growth. If you are interested in mathematical calculation and find yourself to be satisfied doing that, then you should go for banking or accounting jobs rather than running after a more money making job where you wont be satisfied.

Take Your Time

Some companies offer you to join within a short notice. Don't be too haste. Ask the employers for some time so that you can make a uniform decision. Be careful while evaluating the offer as well as while negotiating the terms of the offer. Avoid procrastinating it for too long. Don't give the impression that you are taking the advantage of the companies generosity.

These were some of the most common facts that one should keep in mind before determining the company to be picked as your workplace. Choosing between jobs can be one of the most difficult part of job hunting process and it requires constructive planning and clearheaded decision making.

Jobs are Back

The dragon of economic recession has engulfed every sector and undoubtedly the employment sector in the India job market scenario is the first one to have a hard hit because of this. Globally numerous companies are laying off their employees. In India the conditions in the beginning of 2009 were quiet similar when a job dip came and with this the job market reached at 29%. But due to financial insight of India's leaders, the Indian job market is showing the promising growth and it has gone to 51% in the second quarter. So there is a rising trend in the Indian job market. These figures are shown in the quarterly survey by Global Placement Report on employment trends for Indian job market with 30 key countries. It says that Indian's job market is the strongest.

India is one of the strongest nations that is growing profusely in every sector. Hyderabad, NCR, Bangalore & Chandigarh have become the IT hubs that generates numerous jobs even during the recession period in India job market. According to the Boston Consulting Group the sector like IT, health, banking, retail and outsourcing along with others will have the requirement of 85-90 million people even during the hard economic times. The another survey by HR consultancy Manpower projects is showing that jobs in India are not much affected by the recession. In Hyderabad the largest banks are opening their branches and huge construction for that is going on at a fast pace. In the near future it is expected to generate 2,00,000 new jobs in financial and banking domain freshers as well as experienced fellows.

Also the outsourcing sector like BPO, KPO & other call center are the major job providers in India. HCL, Wipro, Converges, Excel are few to name are the top guns in BPO industry. These big companies are recruiting numerous candidates. Apart from this, the sectors of health, insurance, pharma are also showing significant growth, which again is the symbol for rising trend in Indian job market. If we consider the govt sector then Indian Railways is the biggest employer in India with 1.42 million employees. Not to forget Indian railways is also the fourth largest employer in the world. All the state level, the railway industry is expected to hire new professionals in the coming years.

Top ten companies by NASSCOM (the National Association of Software & Services Companies) who are hiring:

• Tata Consultancy Services
• Infosys Technologies
• Wipro Ltd
• Cognizant Technology Solutions (India)
• HCL Technologies
• HP India
• MphasiS Ltd
• Intelenet Global Services Ltd
• IBM-Daksh Business Process Services Pvt Ltd
• Genpact India Pvt Ltd

Job market in India is thus flourishing and giving all sorts of career opportunities.

Deloitte to Hire 15000 In India

Global business consultancy Deloitte is planning to hire 15,000 people in the country over the next two to three years, the company's top official said here Tuesday.

"We are very upbeat about the Indian economy and have major expansion plans in India," said Deloitte's global chief executive Jim Quigley.

"At present, we are employing about 11,000 people in India. To increase our business, we are planning increase it by 15,000 people over the next two to three years," Quigley told reporters.

"The (global economic) crisis is also an opportunity to expand and acquire assets at attractive valuations. We believe that India and China will be leading the global economic recovery. Europe will very slow to recover. So it makes sense to invest here," he added.

"Even during the time of economic slowdown we saw a (business) growth of 30 percent in India. We are going for active acquisition and expansion plans here."

Capgemini to Up Head Count in India

Outsourcing firm Capgemini is all set to increase its India headcount with the opening of a new business information centre in Bangalore, according to a report in a business daily.

The Bangalore centre will take the company's India headcount beyond 21,000, an increase from its employee strength of 20,000 in home country France.

According to the company, the new centre in Bangalore would start with a workforce of 1,000, which would scale up to 3,000 in about 18 months.

Paul Nannetti, general manager of Capgemini's global business information service line, said, "Bangalore provides plenty of application and technical skills in information management." He added, "The company can scale-up there much more quickly than in onshore locations."

India is among the most attractive outsourcing destination for global MNCs including IBM, Accenture and Microsoft, giving tough competition to domestic players TCS, Wipro and Infosys. The country offers large pool of skilled and low-cost talent for business information management services that help companies improve their collection, use and analysis of data.

Indian Engineers backbone of Japanese IT

Indian system engineers have emerged as the backbone of Japan's IT industry and more are flocking to the country which is witnessing a steep decline in its work force.

Indian system engineers are making their presence felt in Japan's information technology industry. Around 22,000 Indians are living in Japan at the end of 2008, nearly double the number a decade ago.

"India is already the international standard in the IT world," said Kenichi Yoshida, a director of Softbridge Solutions Japan Co., a staffing company. Its founder is an Indian-American, who set up the Japanese company in 2002.

Indian engineers are sent out to Japan after studying Japanese language for five months. In addition to operation and maintenance of financial information systems, they are in charge of systems development for computers and mobile phones, Kyodo news agency reported.

"While the number of working people is decreasing in Japan, in India the number will continue to increase until 2040. Education levels are also high. It's important for Japanese industry to work together with India," Yoshida said.

His company is also providing opportunities for Japanese engineers to undergo training in India for two to four months, and major Japanese enterprises are taking advantage of the service.

"Everything is in English there. They eat curry from same bowl and return home a lot tougher," he said.

Tokyo's Edogawa Ward has the highest number of Indian residents, at about 2,200. After visa requirements for engineers working in Japan were eased in 2001, Indians flocked to the ward because it is close to the centre of Tokyo and prices are lower than in other wards.

"Until several years ago, there were only men in their 20s whose families were back home, but recently, the number of Indians accompanied by their families is increasing," said Jagmohan Chandrani, 57, a company president who came to Japan about 30 years ago.

Chandrani imports and sells black tea, runs a guest house and also serves as leader of the Indian society in the ward, assisting his countrymen in their day-to-day lives.

Many new residents are from Bangalore, known as India's Silicon Valley. Given that tandoori chicken and nan, which are popular in Japan, are northern Indian dishes, Chandrani has opened a southern Indian restaurant and a food store for engineers yearning for the taste of home.

He also participates in local events and holds an Indian festival twice a year, inviting Japanese from neighboring areas.

Chandrani says he hopes the ward will become not an 'India town' but a place serving as bridge between the two countries.

H1B Applications Lowest since 2003

More than six months after the federal government began accepting petitions for work visas popular with Silicon Valley companies, thousands of spots remain open, a reflection of the nation's high unemployment and the political pressure to hire citizens, experts say.

As of last week, 46,700 H-1B visa applications had been submitted, thousands less than the 65,000 allocated for fiscal year 2010 and the lowest number since 2003. The cap for 20,000 additional H-1B visas reserved for foreign graduates of U.S. colleges with at least a master's degree was met, though applications are still being accepted.

Tech industry insiders say the recession is primarily responsible for the dearth of applications. "There is definitely a sense that there is a growing hostility toward some of the (visa) programs, but I don't think that is related to the downturn" in petitions, said Jenifer Verdery, Intel's director of work force policy. "You are not going to see big ramp-ups in hiring during the downturn."

But political pressure did affect hiring in other industries. The federal stimulus law includes provisions making it difficult for financial companies receiving money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, to hire H-1B workers. The requirement forced companies
like Bank of America to rescind job offers to foreign professionals.

Julie Pearl, a San Francisco-based corporate immigration lawyer who works with valley companies, says her firm's caseload for visa work has been cut in half. "In the financial industry, H-1B (applications) are down almost 75 percent," she added.

Sen. Charles Grassley has criticized tech companies for not protecting jobs of U.S. citizens over those of foreigners as they lay off thousands of employees at a clip. The Iowa Republican and Sen. Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, in April reintroduced a bill that would require companies to do everything they can to hire Americans before seeking H-1B visas.

One technology corporate client of Pearl's declined to file petitions out of a sense of patriotism. "They felt, 'How do you hire a foreigner' " with 12 percent unemployment in California, she said.

Samta Kapoor, who will complete her master's degree in engineering management at Duke University in December, said she and other foreign-born classmates have been told by prospective employers that they are not hiring international students this year. "There are times when we are not even looked at. They say, 'We are not hiring international students this year. It's a companywide policy. Sorry,' " she said.

Silicon Valley companies, where immigrants have played prominent roles in creating startups and new technology inventions, view the H-1B visa program as a way to grab the best talent from around the world. "For most of our clients, their mantra is: Hire the best person you can," Pearl added.

Companies can spend thousands of dollars per applicant. "It's such a hard process," Verdery of Intel said. "It's a laborious, difficult, expensive endeavor to bring someone on board."

Despite the challenges, Intel has continued about the same level of H-1B hiring as in the past, she said.

In recent years, there has been some support from both parties in Congress for more H-1B visas and green cards for foreign professionals, a major goal of tech companies that has been caught up in the highly charged debate over immigration.

During the dot-com boom a decade ago, the H-1B visa cap was 195,000 a year, a reflection of the frenzied hiring of tech workers in Silicon Valley and elsewhere around the nation. That number dropped dramatically during the recession that followed.

Les French, president of WashTech, a Seattle-based union for tech professionals, which is critical of the visa program, predicts application levels will eventually rise again. "Once the economy picks up, you'll see a pickup in the applications," he said. "I think it will be lock-step with the economy."

Others, though, say the difficulties faced by foreign-born potential workers as well as the recession will deter some overseas professionals from pursuing careers here.
"The problem is, you lose the cream-of-the-crop," said Vivek Wadhwa, a researcher on immigration and labor issues at the University of California-Berkeley. "The cream of the crop can get jobs elsewhere. Before, they had to come here."

Nonetheless, students such as Kapoor say the United States is still their first choice.

"There are a lot of things happening back home," said Kapoor, who is from Mumbai, India. "There would be no lack of opportunity for me if I went back. But I've been educated here. I want to give back to the United States."

Tech Firms on headhunting drive

Technology firms Accenture and Infosys BPO were on Monday upbeat about hiring plans for next year, an indicator of brightening business prospects, although Microsoft India said it would go easy on new recruitments.

Information technology and consultancy were among the sectors hit by last year's global economic crisis, ripples of which are still being felt by businesses across continents.

Consultant Accenture said it would shore up its staff strength by 8,000 by next year, mainly in the analytics space. "We are 42,000 right now and we imagine we will be about 50,000 by the end of 2010," Accenture Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William D Green said on the sidelines of the India Economic Summit here.

Green added, "We believe that analytics is going to be an important trend that our customers are going to demand from us. We think India is going to be a great place for us."

Infosys BPO, the back-office unit of IT firm Infosys Technologies, said that it would hire 1,500-2,000 people by the end of the current fiscal. "We plan to hire 2,000 people in the next four-five months or by the end of this fiscal. Currently we are 16,000 people in India," Infosys BPO CEO Amitabh Chaudhry said.

Another BPO company Genpact has already hired 6,000-7,000 so far this year for its global operations. Microsoft India Chairman and Corporate Vice-President Ravi Venkatesan, however, said that "there will be no significant hiring. Microsoft has a headcount of 5,300 people in the country and had hired "a few hundreds" last year.

Most of the top domestic and transnational companies go for campus placements from the engineering and management schools around October-December.

Venkatesan said "(Steve) Ballmer (global CEO) has gone on record saying this is a period of consolidation," rather than adding to the headcount. The USD 58-billion global software leader has six business units in India, which include research centre, development centres and sales and marketing divisions.

The company, which boasts of running most of the personal computers worldwide on its operating system, has three centres in Hyderabad. The other units are in Bangaluru and Gurgaon.

Yesterday, global banking behemoth Standard Chartered said it plans to hire 3,000 employees in India by the end of 2010.

Wipro to hire sacked employees

If you are a pink slip recipient from Wipro, here’s a piece of good news. Wipro plans to rehire some of the employees it fired a year ago.

"Non-performance was the reason for these separations. However, we are open to rehire some of these people who were fired by us a year ago, if they come back to us with additional skill sets. A one-year window would have been enough for them to acquire some additional skills," said Joseph John, vice-president (HR) in Wipro Infotech, the business that looks at the India and Middle-East markets.

The tech major's involuntary attrition rate has gone up by 2 percentage points in the last 16 months. Wipro Infotech said it would also resume campus hiring from January. "We are looking at hiring over 1,000 laterals during the fiscal and 1,000 freshers from campuses in January," said John.

The division, which recruited 1,000 people in the first six months of the fiscal, expects hiring numbers in the second half of the year to be more than double of that.

The additional people requirement comes with Wipro winning a slew of large projects in India and the Middle-East, and also to cater to the growing requirements of existing accounts. The company hired 200 people in Saudi Arabia and Egypt recently.

Wipro is also hiring for its Global Service Management Centre in Mysore with almost 5% jobs earmarked for differently-abled people.

Wipro Infotech is planning to raise the ratio of its women employees from 13% now to 20% in the next two years. On salary hikes, John said the company had not budgeted a hike at the start of the fiscal. "But we have decided to raise salaries in the fourth quarter across the board."

Wipro to hire Experienced Resources

With an increase in business, India’s third-largest IT services company Wipro is holding recruitment drives to hire experienced IT professionals (termed lateral hiring) across the country. The company said in a statement today that it plans to organise two-day walk-in interviews for experienced IT professionals in Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Noida and Kolkata, starting November 14.

The drive is a part of its regular hiring in line with business demands, the company said. Vice-President (Talent Acquisition) Pradeep Bahirwani said the company would hold recruitments simultaneously across the country to provide applicants a quick process to allow them to consider opportunities in other cities.

“We are looking to meet applicants across skill requirements in all business divisions with experience levels ranging from 2-14 years,” he said.

He added the company had released recruitment advertisements to inform applicants of the drive.

“We encourage applicants to apply directly to us and not fall prey to fraudsters misusing company names and duping candidates,” he added.

Wipro has also announced plans to hire BSc, BCM and BCA students graduating in 2010 for its Wipro Academy of Software Excellence.

TCS to hire local talent in US

To expand its U.S. operation, TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) plans to hire 1,000 local workers at its new facility near Cincinnati, Ohio, by the end of 2010, reports DNA.

The company opened a $20 million delivery and software development centre in Milford, Cincinnati in Ohio, in March last year - in a bid to win federal contracts and be closer to the headquarters of its U.S. clients. Suryakant, President of TCS North America said, "The Cincinnati region is a great place for U.S. to recruit local talent to meet the demands of our customers as they grow out of the downturn."

The ohio facility is also aimed at securing what some major Indian service providrs are chasing - defence and avionics work. TCS is reportedly in talks with Boeing and Lockheed Martin for defence and aerospace contracts. This work can only be done by American citizens or green card holders.

Recently, the company bagged projects related to unemployment insurance for the states of Nebraska, New Mexico and Mississippi. "The U.S. by far our largest market and the seven hills park facility in Ohio plays an integral role in our strategy of putting our customers first," said Suryakant.

Currently, TCS employs 15,000 people in the U.S. The company has been shipping quite a bit of work to U.S, ignoring India's popular IT hubs.

Questions You should ask an interviewer

Trust me: it’s different now. In this economy, where unemployment is high and you have many more job seekers than jobs, you can’t afford to improvise on the interview. So yes, if you got called in to talk about a position, be psyched. But then knuckle down and do some prep work.

Find out as much as you can about the position you’re interviewing for, how the process will go, and who will be interviewing you. Research the people you’ll be talking to (use Google, LinkedIn, Facebook and real-life contacts) so you have common ground to discuss, and check out the company and the competition.

Wait, you’re not done yet. You still have to ace the interview. These five questions will pull you ahead of the pack:

1. “In the first 30, 60, and 90 days what projects would you like to have completed and taken off your list?” When candidates go on interviews very rarely do they know for sure what the hiring manager is specifically looking for. This one question will give you valuable insight as to what is most important to them. If you can ask this one question very early on in the interview you have the blueprint as to specifically what is most important to them.
2. “What one skill if mastered would add the most value to your department?” All companies now want to hire the best or someone that has the drive to be the best. By asking the question above, you show that you are driven to be the best. You will distinguish yourself as someone that is willing to go the extra mile, work hard and become a valuable asset to the company.
3. “What challenges and opportunities is the company and the department facing?” Show your possible employer that you are interested in the company and that you are up for the challenge. This also gives you the chance to differentiate yourself from the competition. You can provide valuable insight on how you would handle the situation.laid off 101 on notebook paper
4. “What are your company goals for the year and what are the department goals?” Everybody likes someone that is goal focused, so if you ask this question, you will standout.
5. “What more can I tell you about myself to let you know that I am the right person for this job?” This one question can make or break your chances with the company. Why? Because you show sincere interest in the company and that you want the job. This also shows that you care and want to make sure all questions were answered thoroughly.

Are you on the Layoff List

So many people report that being laid off came as a total surprise. One morning they show up for work as usual. An hour later they’re sitting behind their steering wheel stunned, with a box of pictures and books in the backseat.

It’s bad enough to lose your job. But to have it take you by surprise is just unfathomable. How can you read the tea leaves on something like this so that it doesn’t happen to you? Or so that it doesn’t happen to you again?

Here are some signs that you might be on a list of people to be laid off:

* Your company has hit hard times and has publicly announced that it will institute “cost-cutting measures.”
* Your industry sector has taken a dive on Wall Street.
* Your company has been acquired, and there’s someone just like you already ensconced in the acquiring company.
* Your company just bought your competitor, and there’s someone just like you in the newly acquired company.
* You work for a closely held family business—and you’re not family.
* You work for a publicly traded business that prides itself on being “one big happy family.”
* You’ve been asked to research ways the business can reduce expenses.
* Your otherwise congenial boss starts avoiding you.
* Your otherwise congenial boss starts snapping at you.
* Your boss starts looking at you strangely.
* Your boss starts looking right through you.
* You inexplicably feel compelled to ask your boss if there’s about to be a layoff.
* You are one of the highest paid people in the organization.
* You are one of the lowest paid people in the organization.
* You’re somewhere in the middle.
* You wonder how your long-time coworker could be taking such a lengthy leave of absence without saying good-bye.
* There is an unusually bulky FedEx package from headquarters that’s addressed to your local HR department.
* There is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary going on in the company whatsoever.
* You have a job.

The best thing you can do:

Recognize that everyone is subject to being laid off.

The worst thing you can do:

Think it won’t happen to you.

The first thing you should do:

Keep in mind that getting laid off has nothing to do with your performance.

IT Sector 80000 Grads

Kolkata: Software industry body, Nasscom expects at least 70,000-80,000 engineering graduates who passed out in June 2009 and were offered jobs in their 5th and 6th semesters by TCS, Infosys and Accenture, among others, to get absorbed by March 2010. Not too long ago, there were apprehensions that the appointments of these tech grads could get deferred till 2011 in the aftermath of the global slowdown. However, the perception appears to have changed.


Speaking to Economic Times, Nasscom Vice-President Sangeeta Gupta said, "There's some amount of pick-up in IT spending and clients have become active in the decision-making process. This augurs well for the IT industry and is likely to result in hiring by IT companies. Companies like TCS, Infosys and Accenture, among others, are expected to start honouring the offers they made. As a result, at least 70k-80k engineering graduates, who were issued offer letters, are expected to get absorbed by March 2010."

For instance, the country's biggest software firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) had made some 24,000 offers in 2008-09, according to its Q2 analyst call. The company had indicated that it would honour these offers this fiscal. In Q3, TCS is expected to absorb about 8,000-odd, and the balance, in the following quarter. Till Q2, the company had absorbed some 1,800 people.

Similarly, Infosys, in its Q2 earnings call, indicated that it would add 20,000 people instead of 18,000 indicated earlier. The additional 2,000 would be partly in BPO while the rest would make up laterals at Infosys Technologies.

Incidentally, Nasscom has urged member companies to recruit those who've completed their eighth semester to ensure that hiring is closer to the need of companies. For this fiscal, Nasscom has projected a mere 4-7 percent export growth. It is likely, that with IT sector showing signs of recovery, Nasscom will review the export target. "We can review the export target by end- December," she added.

McKinsey in its report titled 'Perspectives in the IT industry by 2020', has noted that with the current pace of reforms and expected constraints in talent and infrastructure supply, the exports component of the Indian IT industry is slated to reach $175 billion in revenues by 2020. The domestic component will contribute $50 billion in revenues by 2020, which is larger than the total export revenues for India now.

UK Grads find it difficult to get work

The UK's IT graduates could find it even more difficult to obtain work if new government proposals making it easier for multinational companies to transfer non-European Union graduates to UK offices take effect.

The Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) said that the Home Office's Migration Advisory Committee had proposed reforms to the current point-based system which would allow the graduates to become eligible for intra-company transfers.
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The transfers would be available to graduates from non-EU companies after just three months of employment at the sponsoring organisation, without that firm having to advertise vacancies in the UK first, according to APSCo.

Under a Freedom of Information request APSCo found that 29,240 non-EU IT workers came into the UK in 2008 on intra-company transfers, more than double the 14,255 non-EU workers coming into the UK to work in all the other professional service sectors combined.

"While the intra-company transfer system might not be exploited in the financial and legal sectors, there is evidence that it is being exploited in the IT sector," said APSCo chief executive Ann Swain.

"Using the system to bring in graduates would be wrong-headed and illogical. Employers should be required by law to advertise vacancies in the UK first before transferring employees from overseas offices. We are disappointed that the Migration Advisory Committee is not recommending that this loophole be closed."

1,80,000 IT Employees may lose jobs

Washington: As many as 180,000 employees in IT and related areas will become jobless this year if the layoff announcements by companies are to maintain the current pace."At the current pace, the year-end total could reach 180,000, which would be the largest annual total since 2003, when technology firms announced 228,325 job cuts," says a report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago-based global consulting firm which tracks job-cut announcements.

Telecommunications, electronics and computer industry companies had cut 140,422 jobs through October 31 this year, says the report, adding that 69,654 tech-sector jobs had been cut in the third quarter of the year alone. The report did not include major layoffs announced since October 31 such as the 5,000 to 6,000 job cuts at Sun Microsystems."

The tech sector is simply the latest victim in this downturn that began last year with the collapse of the housing market, and quickly spread to the financial markets," chief executive John Challenger said in a statement. "Businesses and consumers have slashed their spending and no industry is immune," he added.

The 180,000 job cuts in the tech sector would be the most since 2003 but would still be far fewer than the 695,581 jobs lost in 2001, with the bursting of the dot-com bubble. In 2007, a total of 107,295 tech-sector jobs were cut.

Mphasis May hir more Americans: Outsourcing

Mumbai: MphasiS Ltd, the Bangalore-based IT services firm that is now a part of international technology giant Hewlett-Packard, may add more Americans to its workforce to avail the tax breaks announced by US President Barack Obama on February 25.

Speaking to DNA Money, Ganesh Ayyar, chief executive officer, MphasiS Ltd, said, "The option of increasing Americans in our workforce is open to us in view of the recent announcements by US authorities. However, we will have to factor in many other things before that, like onsite cost versus margins. We also have to evaluate client willingness."

However, an analyst tracking the sector felt IT companies talking of recruiting more Americans and actually walking the talk were two different things. "Putting more people onsite will send their costs soaring. Moreover, clients might not be willing to pay that much," he said on the condition of anonymity. The analyst, however, added that MphasiS earns 94% of its revenues through time and material (T&M) contracts and so, is in the position to renegotiate contracts if onsite postings increase.

Of the 29,988 employees the company has, 1,721 work onsite, with the rest being offshore. As much as three-fourth of the company's revenues comes from offshore work, with onsite contributing the rest. MPhasiS' billing rate for onsite is about $71 per hour and for offshore, $17.
The US region contributed 67% to its revenues in the first quarter (November-January) of financial year 2008-09. MphasiS follows a November to October fiscal. In Q1, Europe, India and the Middle East and Asia Pacific accounted for 22%, 7% and 4% of revenues, respectively.

Its parent Hewlett-Packard, through its acquisition of US-based EDS Corporation, contributed 45% to MphasiS' revenues in the first quarter. "This is the first time we have taken into account business from Hewlett-Packard in our books after the acquisition. We will definitely look to increase its contribution further, because the EDS-Hewlett Packard combine too has grown five times in revenues. So, the relationship holds huge potential for us," said Ayyar. MphasiS gets outsourcing and infrastructure solutions projects from Hewlett-Packard.


Meanwhile, in these times of price negotiations from clients, the company may look at increasing the work hours of employees for cost benefits. However, Ayyar said, "Nothing of that sort is in practice at the moment." MphasiS added 9 new clients in its first quarter, including six through the Hewlett-Packard relationship. The company's revenues stood at Rs 9,77.7 crore in the first quarter of FY09, compared with Rs 8,94.72 crore in the quarter before that.

However, the BPO business fared badly due to project cancellations from a few clients and also due to the appreciation of rupee against the pound. MphasiS earns 43% of its revenues from the banking, financial services and insurance sector, with technology, manufacturing and retail, and telecom providing 25%, 13% and 9%, respectively.