TCS To Review Salary Hikes By Month-End

NEW DELHI: The country's largest software vendor Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Tuesday said it will review salary increment plans by this

month-end as signs of revival of demand in the sector get stronger by the day.

"There has been no hike in the current fiscal. The demand-supply situation, however, has improved over last year. We review it (wage hikes) along with the business plan for the year, which will be happening somewhere by end of February or in March," TCS Chief Financial Officer S Mahalingam told reporters on the sidelines of a CSI event here.

Indian IT sector was hit last year by the economic slowdown with companies world wide cutting their technology spends. This in turn, had led to many companies cutting jobs, freezing fresh hiring and no wage hikes.

Earlier this month, TCS announced that it would hire 30,000 people next fiscal, signalling that buoyancy was back.

Talking about expectations from the upcoming budget, Mahalingam said the industry, as a whole, wanted the extension of the tax holidays that are provided to IT firms under Sec 10A/10B of the Software Technology Parks (STP) Act.

He also asked the government to clear the ambiguities in various policies related to direct tax code and SEZs.

Is industry utilizing employees? Or exploiting?

Akanksha Prasad, CIOL

BANGALORE, INDIA: The recent Nasscom and other reports signal that the wave of recession is slowly receding. Companies are reportedly posting positive employeeutilization, but this is done on the cost of the employee. IT companies increased working hours, work pressure putting more stress on the employees, and in return, they were not eligible for over time benefits.

As Business Directory.com defines, employee utilization means "a method that attempts to maximize the efficiency of a company's employees".

Kris Lakshmikanth, founder CEO and chairman of Headhunters India, said that till 2007, the average employee utilization of the IT companies was less than 70 per cent. But 2008 onwards, the utilization went up to 80-82 per cent.

He said, "The factors responsible for this movement is reduction in workforce, utilization of the bench and increase in the work timings."

During the recent quarterly announcement, Wipro reported an increase in the utilization to 73.2 per cent in Q3 FY 09. HCL reported its employee utilization level moving up to 76.4 per cent in Q3 and that of Infosys came around 68.8 per cent in Q3. TCS reported the highest utilization rate of 81.1 per cent (excluding trainees) and 77.2 cent (including trainees).

Speaking to CIOL, requesting anonymity, a Kolkata-based IT professional, working in one of the leading IT companies in India, said, "Starting April 2009, our work timingswere increased by half an hour officially but one hour internally. If we worked for less than nine hours then we were penalized. But when we worked for 12-15 hours, we were not given overtime."

Lakshmikanth elaborated, "As per the reports the companies had increased the working timings by half an hour every day, which would come around an increase of two and a half hours in a week. This increase in the entire workforce can effect the total employee utilization to as much as five per cent."

Some of the IT companies reported to have increased their work timings from fifteen minutes to half an hour are TCS, HCL and Accenture.

When contacted these IT companies refused to respond, while others like Wipro and Infosys refrained from making comments saying that these timings had been around since long time.

According to them, these norms have been around for years, and it was just during the period September to December 2008 that they made compulsory office working of 9 hours 15 minutes and 9 hours 30 minutes respectively. In other words, every employee needs to work for around 8 plus one and half hour and on record, though they end up spending more than that.

Elaborating on the concept of increasing work timings, Praveen Bhadada, engagement manager, Zinnov Management Consulting Pvt. Ltd said, "For IT companies working on time and material basis, working extra hours means more revenues at the fixed salary of the employee, i.e. increased profitability. For fixed bid contracts, the work is executed faster – i.e. higher efficiency. Increased work hours reflect in increased overall productivity.

Another IT professional working in Bangalore reported that in order to show good performance and high efficiency, employees end up working for 12 hours, but still were not eligible to claim for the overtime.

She said, "Our targets were increased by double, in order to meet them under the deadlines, we worked for almost 12-14 hours. We were not only devoid of the overtime claim, but also the performance sheet did not reflect our hard work. This is the high time, when government should make strict labor laws and work timings."

Through an email, the spokesperson from the Union Labor Ministry said IT employees shall have a minimum of 48 working hours in a week but the maximum working hours have not been defined in the law and left to the discretion of the employer company. He said the department is examining the issue of working hours beyond 8 hours a day- without any extra monetary benefits.

Interestingly, none of these companies seem to bring back the gold old working experience of relief and luxury at work. Lakshmikanth opines that companies might continue with these policies for yet another six months, till they comfortably see not only recovery but growth.

Bhadada raised a very valid point that if the employee is stressed it can result in lower productivity and lower utilization as well. And this would soon become a challenge for the companies, perhaps one the reasons behind employee attrition.

TCS to hire 30,000 employees in FY-2011

10 Feb, 2010, 1300 hrs IST, AGENCIES

NEW DELHI: With improving business sentiment and revival in IT spends, hiring seems to be back in full swing at software firm TCS. Tata Consultancy Services, the country's largest software exporter by revenue plans to hire 30,000 employees in the financial year 2010-2011.

TCS CEO and MD N Chandrasekaran said, "China is a tough market for IT firms and the company was seeing business opportunity in Europe." The company is currently seeing an 8-10% growth in revenue from domestic operations and is eyeing a double-digit growth in the next two years.

Chandrasekaran said the company had signed a few large deals as well as a number of smaller ones.
"The financial services sector will drive growth. We expect good growth from retail, pharma and utilities," he said.

The company, however, expects a lesser growth from verticals such as telecom and manufacturing.

Chandrasekaran said the company will hike salaries of its employees in the coming fiscal, but did not give details. TCS, has not hiked wages in the current fiscal, but employees have received 150 per cent VA payouts in two consecutive quarters -- Q2 and Q3 of FY'10.

"We are on a path to hire 1,000 people. We have already hired 300," he said, replying to a query on hiring plans for the current fiscal. In Q3 of FY-10, TCS had made 7,692 net additions, compared with a net addition of 320 in the previous quarter.

Asked about the extent to which India would be affected by the US move to slash tax-breaks to outsourcers, Chandrasekaran said the matter is not an immediate concern.

US president Barack Obama last month had said his administration would "slash the tax-breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas" and instead "give those tax-breaks to companies that create jobs in the country," which sent shivers down the industry's spine.

This is because the US accounts for almost 60 per cent of the IT exports from the country are to that market.

"The regulatory changes with regard to employment and outsourcing in any part of the world is something that we have to watch every day. You need to see how to align to that, but because of this, if you ask me if there is an immediate concern, then the answer is no," Chandrasekaran said.

Satyam Probe Almost Complete, Says Khursheed

Chennai, Feb. 7 (ANI): Union Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed has said that the probe into the fiasco of Satyam Computer Services Limited is almost complete and the trial would take place in a fast track court.

Interacting with the media on the sidelines of a conference here Khursheed said: “The courts have been designated and I hope that it will move in the fast track as far as courts are concerned. We have given an outstanding team of lawyers headed by the Solicitor General himself.”

“Investigations are now complete, unless the court requires something more. And now it was for the court that what they want to do… I do hope that we will be able to show progress during this year,” he added.

Investigating agencies had filed fresh charges against Satyam Computer Services Limited founder and five others over an accounting fraud that hit the software services company early last year.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had also filed a third charge sheet against the six accused in a court in Hyderabad, where Satyam is headquartered, for filing false tax returns that resulted in loss to Satyam shareholders.

The CBI filed its first charge sheet against Raju and others in April last year, followed by another in November for falsification of accounts, cheating and criminal breach of trust, among other charges. (ANI)

IT sector boom results increase in demand for real estate sector

Most IT hubs like Hyderabad, Chennai, Gurgaon, Bangalore and Mumbai are witnessing higher demand for office space from IT companies.The revival of growth in the information technology (IT) industry is rubbing off on the real estate sector, too.For Santosh Kumar, CEO (operations) at leading property consultant Jones Lang LeSalle Meghraj, it is the revival of the US economy that has encouraged IT companies to start looking at India again for expansion.

Real estate players also report an increase in demand from the IT sector.Increase in the number of enquiries from the IT sector this quarter (ending March) is primarily due to the expansion in terms of hiring more manpower.Network Appliance Incorporated recently acquired a piece of land in Bangalore to expand India operations. Noida-based QA InfoTech is planning to move to a campus that will be almost double the 50,000 sq ft it currently occupies in three separate facilities.

With all large infotech companies back in hiring mode, there has been a spurt of activity in the commercial real estate segment.A demand for office space in the range of 25,000-30,000 sq ft from the IT sector is seen and this is definitely going to increase in the next couple of months.

Happy Times are Here Again – Indian Companies Set to Announce Pay Hikes

by sweta

After more than a year of money crunch, job loss and pay cuts; employees all over India have something to cheer about. As the corporates start recovering after the dreadful economy slowdown, the companies are gearing to reward their employees with bonus and pay hikes.

According to the latest report by Economic Times, employees across corporate India can expect a salary hike anywhere between 9 to 18 percent this year.

As per current trends, employees across sectors may get moderate to fat increments and salary hikes in the 9-18 percent range this year around. Pay-cuts, layoffs and heightened austerity measures are becoming a thing of the past, as it gets replaced with a buzz of promising bonuses.

The salary hike is expected in most companies belonging to telecom, retail, FMCG, automobiles and consumer durables sector. Last year a majority of companies had to bring down their head count. While many had resorted to a pay cut across the organisation, some had fired people in bulk.

Sandeep Chaudhary from Hewitt Associates was quoted as

“If we take a realistic look on expected salary hikes this year, it is surely going to be around 9-9.5 percent across sectors.”

He added, “Companies will focus on a more realistic approach towards salaries, as well as hiring.”

Where auto and mobile sector have been profitable and quite generous with their employees. While Maruti Suzuki is looking at a hike of 10-15 percent and an average bonus of about 100 percent this year, mobile giant Airtel is had offred an average bonus of 140-150 for junior level employees and 125 percent for senior level last year.

IT companies who have always been the highest paying sector have also decided on a good hike for its employees this year. Cognizant,SAP, VMware, Mahindra Satyam, TCS, Wipro, Infosys and Genpact are said to offer an increment of 7-15 percent at the operational level and 12-18 percent to the seniors. Wipro was among the first one to announce a hike of about 8-12 percent. At Stayam, employees can expect a hike anywhere between 8 to 20 percent and Infosys is looking at a salary hike in april even after a hike of 8% last year in October.

The job market which has been very slow for some time now has also started showing good signs lately. How do I know?

Haven’t you noticed the Naukri.com ad back on Television?

Satyam scam has hurt PwC brand: Global Chairman

Audit-firm PriceWaterhouseCooper has had a tough year in India, starting with the hit the brand took when the Satyam scam came to light. But the company is continues to bet on India as a growth market.

CNBC-TV18's Menaka Doshi caught up with PwC Global Chairman Dennis Nally who spoke about the audit-firm’s India plans and the road ahead.

Below is a verbatim transcript of the interview. Also watch the video.

Q: Its been a spectacularly difficult year in India, starting in January with Satyam and last few months there have been people issue in the firm. What is your outlook on India and what you are doing to be able to regain, a perception point of view, the number one spot?

A: Without question the firm has had real challenges in India but that has not changed my outlook and view on the importance of India economy to global economic picture. It’s clearly one of our most strategic markets. I think it offers tremendous opportunity for growth and we are very much committed to this market place for the future. We are investing heavily. We will add significant number of jobs in India this year versus a year ago – not only to service our clients from insurance, tax and advisory standpoint but also adding jobs in our global service delivery centre that exists in India today.

We are very optimistic about what the prospects are for India. I visit India many times and it is very important to me and to PriceWaterhouseCoopers to capitalize on what those opportunities are. It is a very important market for us.

Q: What will it take to put the brand back on track?

A: It is going to take sustained performance and nothing short of that. Everything we do is a matter of focus. It’s a matter of excellence, quality – everything that we are doing. We just need to continue to deliver, service our clients, respond to their needs, help them deal with their issues and challenges. If we do that and we do that consistently over a period of time the PwC brand in India will be as strong and as good as it has been in the past and where we want it to be into the future.

Q: But do you think at all that one-off instance like this can hurt the brand in any fashion?

A: Any one-off instance can do harm to your brand and that is the reality. Our job is to make sure we are doing everything and we have done a number of things in India to ensure that this would not happen again, we are very much focused on it and time will tell as to how successful we are really to make that happen.