Wipro Technologies to honour job offers, with a rider

BANGALORE: Wipro Technologies, the third-largest IT services exporter from India, will be honouring all the remaining job offers made to the engineering graduates during 2008-09 fiscal, but with a rider.

In the letter dispatched to remaining 6,000 fresh engineering graduates, Wipro Technologies has said that these students would come onboard between May and December 2009, undergo training for two months, and if they are not engaged in any billable project, will be paid only a stipend of Rs 6,000 per month.

Wipro had made offers to 14,000 engineering graduates to join the company during 2008-09 fiscal with salaries in the range of Rs 2.75-3.25 lakh per annum and the induction of 40% has been delayed by six months.

Pradeep Bahirwani, vice-president of talent acquisition, Wipro Technologies, said that this step was taken due to the changed business environment. He further said that if these fresh hires are not put onto any billable project, they would be given further training through the web.

Of the 14,000 offers made by Wipro Technologies, it is estimated that around 6,000 have already joined the company. This changed offer status will apply to those who are joining in the next six months or so.

Mr Bahirwani said that it has also waived the Rs 75,000 bond requirement which was placed upon these students, if they leave the company within 15 months. During the training period of two months, these fresh employees are paid a stipend of Rs 15,000.

The Wipro official claimed that they have received positive response from the remaining students of the revised offer as they are being absorbed by an IT major and they would be put on a project, depending on the orders they receive.

Wipro Technologies, at the same time has already made offers to 8,000 engineering graduates for joining them during the 2009-10 fiscal.

This is the second time in the recent past, that Wipro Technologies has tweaked the hiring policies of fresh engineering graduates. Earlier, it had made a one time offer to students with the option of joining the BPO division of the company and later getting back into the IT services segment.

The process of giving offer letters to engineering graduates one year in advance by the IT companies in India has undergone a change with Nasscom saying that firms would approach colleges only during the last two months before the academic graduation.