Archive for September 22nd, 2008
Indian biotechnology firm Biocon has been ranked the seventh-largest employer among the top 100 biotechnology companies globally by Med Ad News, according to a statement issued by Biocon.
Med Ad News is a global pharmaceutical magazine and is regarded as one of the most respected journals in the segment.
“This is a validation of our consistent effort to attain global leadership. This also highlights the true potential of this sector in a country like India. This industry will be a key driver in India’s progress towards economic development,” Biocon Chairman and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar Shaw said in a statement.
These companies provide the best numbers to track the
progress of the sector, according to Biocon.
The statement further says, “The companies have been ranked by the number of employees, and Biocon at the seventh rank is the only Asian company to feature in the list.”
The total number of persons working in Biocon in 2007 was around 3,000, which is 17 per cent higher than the total number in 2,543 in 2006, according to the report.
In terms of revenue, Biocon has been ranked at 20th position among the top 100 biotechnology firms. It has reported USD 2.7 crore revenue in 2007, according to the report.
The company has incurred around USD 1.1 crore as research and development expenses in 2007 and is at 88th position in terms of overall spending among the top 100 biotechnology firms.
September 22nd, 2008
SATYAM COMPUTERS For software functions
Diploma - Mechanical Recruitment on 3rd October
eligible candidates can report directly at the Venue : Ashir Bhavan, Kacherippady, Cochin , Kerala
Batch:2008 pass outs Diploma Mechanical
Date:Friday 3rd October 2008
Salary CTC (per annum):
• During Training period (6months): Rs. 6000/-
• On completion of training: Rs. 1.44 Lakhs per annum
Venue:Ashir Bhavan, Kacherippady, Cochin , Kerala
Reporting Time : 8.30 AM
Eligibility
1. Diploma: Admitted 2005-passout 2008.
2. Mechanical branch only
3. Pass out with =>60% aggregate (CGPA on conversion should be =>60%)
4. X & XII (with all subjects’ marks included) =>60% aggregate
5. No history of backlogs. Should have cleared all papers in first attempt
6. Not more than one year gap in education for any reason
7. Age: 2008 batch: Not more than 23 years at the time of course completion
8. STUDENTS HAVING ANOTHER COMPANY OFFER ALSO ARE ALSO ELIGIBLE
All the candidates should bring the following.
1. Two copies of RESUME
2. Two sets of photocopies of your mark lists
3. Three copies of passport size photographs
4. Rs. 100/- towards exam fee to SHREDS
5. 5 self addressed Rs.5/- stamped long envelopes
6. Valid photo identity card (Driving license / Voters ID / Passport / College ID)
7. Writing Pad
8. Gum
click here to apply
September 22nd, 2008
NEW DELHI: Mumbai-based Kalpesh Malhotra (name changed) was ecstatic when he joined marquee i-bank Lehman Brothers early this year.
He was among the select few picked after a rigorous recruitment session from one of India’s premier B-schools at an annual salary of Rs 18 lakh. But within months, the dreams of a great future, global jetsetting and meetings with honchos have turned into a nightmare. After the US’ fourth-largest i-bank filed for bankruptcy, there was chaos, panic and despair at its plush Powai office.
Kalpesh is not alone. He shares his uncertain future with about 2,500 employees of Lehman’s India unit and about 23 lakh people employed by the Indian IT and BPO industry. Almost 60% of the IT-BPO companies get their bread and butter from American financial institutions like Goldman Sachs, Washington Mutual, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers.
As financial behemoths crash on the Wall Street, pink slips are being handed out in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. Reflecting the gloom, leading global HR consulting firm Manpower has drastically downgraded hiring outlook for India. According to the consultancy, hiring outlook (% of companies planning to hire) dipped from 56% to 33% for the quarter ending March 2009 for finance and insurance sectors. For ITITeS , the outlook has shrunk from 58% to 47%.
Experts see a major impact on companies, especially on firms in the banking, financial services & insurance (BFSI), IT and BPO space. According to estimates, MNCs in the BFSI and captive BPO space may axe 5,000-8,000 jobs in the country.
Source:TOI
September 22nd, 2008
MUMBAI: Recruitments, which are a strong indicator of the expected business for software firms, have suffered a significant drop while placements for the coming season are reflecting the uncertainty in global financial markets.
The top four IT exporters have nearly frozen hiring of experienced professionals and have deferred the joining dates for many freshers, analysts said. Around a week or two back, number one software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) reportedly sent out letters postponing joining dates by six to nine months, people familiar with the situation said.
“This quarter, we don’t immediately see a drop in revenues. But we expect the next quarter to show flat to negative growth for some of the top firms,” said an IT analyst, adding that TCS had the highest exposure to financial services among the top-tier firms with around 43-44% of its revenues coming from financial services.
According to a survey conducted by brokerage CLSA in 45 colleges, the class of 2009 has received 17.4% lesser job offers compared to the previous year’s figures. Offers from Satyam and Wipro were about 33-50 % lower while that of TCS and Infosys Technologies were 16% and 12% lower, respectively. Regarding the class of 2008, the study noted, “Companies have pushed out the joining dates for the graduating class of 2008. Admittedly, the class of 2008 was given job offers in 2007, pre-slowdown and companies have ostensibly over-hired relative to demand.”
The numbers could not be confirmed with the IT firms because they were in the silent period before their second quarter results. A Satyam spokesperson said, “We haven’t changed our 12,000-15,000 guidance for new hires—we will honour our commitments. We are in our silent period, and as of now, not commenting on specifics like joining dates.” An analyst with a domestic brokerage noted that TCS had scaled down the number of hires it had projected for the year from 35,000 to 30,000 while multinational IBM had asked about 1,000 employees to leave.
“Infosys is the only firm that has so far stuck to the number of 25,000 hires that it had initially given out,” he said. The CLSA survey, which is probably the first comprehensive survey after the slowdown, said Accenture was the only large firm to have shown an increase in hiring numbers among the colleges it visited. The colleges were spread across eight cities and the top IT exporters had collectively hired 7,278 freshers from them last year. This year, the figure was down to 5,835, the brokerage said.
In addition, the IT firms were pruning the number of colleges they visited for placements and dropping tier-2 and tier-3 colleges from the list. Infosys, which visited around 1,079 campuses last year, has scaled the number down to 620 this year, while Wipro has reduced it from 300 to 106
Source:TOI
September 22nd, 2008
NEW DELHI: Amid fears that the US financial crisis will affect hiring plans of outsourcing companies, India’s fourth largest software firm Satyam said that it is bullish on hiring and has no plans to recast its recruitment targets.
“We will not cut our hiring targets. This year we plan to recruit 12,000-15,000 people and we are well on target to achieve that,” Satyam HR head SV Krishnan said. However, he added that the company may postpone some of the new recruitments for next quarter.
Analysts following the sector feel that due to the slowdown in the US economy, the Indian IT companies, who mostly depend on the US market for their revenue, had postponed joining dates of new recruits, raising doubts about their future. He, however, assured that Satyam will honour every offer made to the candidates.
Satyam currently has over 53,000 employees on its rolls. Talking about reports that Satyam has fired 4,500 employees, he said, “We have not asked anyone to leave the organisation.” “It is misreported. As part of our appraisal process we identify around 5% of our associates in the performance improvement category and put them through a structured performance improvement programme. This practise exists for a number of years now. We take action on our bottom-most performers to keep the organisation’s efficiencies tight. It is nothing new.” he added
Source:TOI
September 22nd, 2008
NEW DELHI: There is more to India’s software revolution than its IT biggies. The country has nearly two million software developers who collaborate with the likes of Nokia, Motorola, Bharti, Google and Sun Microsystems on an unofficial basis to create products and services.
Sun Microsystems works with 7.6 lakh developers in India outside its workforce, the largest such community in the world for the firm. The world’s largest handset maker Nokia is assisted by over 140,000 independent developers in India, again the largest. These independent developers are not on the rolls of the companies they are collaborating with and are often employees of other companies. Some software majors officially allow their employees to pursue such activities in their spare time. These software developers also include freelancers and students.
And these developers are making their presence felt. The Indian division of Forum Nokia, the handset maker’s developer community, has helped develop applications such as a pattern-based predictive texting service, voice reminders and mobile applications for parental control. Nokia is now incorporating these applications in its handsets globally, the Asia Pacific developer relations head Kenny Mathers said. Similarly, in the case of Bharti, its band of developers has created an M-commerce platform and is now working on India-specific applications for the iPhone. Evans Data Corp predicts that India’s developer community will grow 20% over the next two years, the fastest in the world.
According to Evans, a typical Indian developer is a single, 31-year-old male who has been working as a programmer for less than six years and earns less than Rs 16 lakh annually. He is far younger, poorer, less experienced, and less tied down than North American developers. Indian developers are well-educated, nearly 88% of them have college degrees, and over 40% have masters or doctoral degrees. A majority of Indian developers said they create software because of the challenge and fulfillment. Only 30% said they do it solely for the money.
Sun Microsystems believes that these developers work as its partners in innovating and provide it feedback on its products and solutions. “The inspiration for innovation will come from Indians around us who are consuming IT innovations in every sphere from mobile, desktops, enterprise and government,” said Sun Microsystems Developer Outreach and Programs Worldwide senior manager Naveen Asrani.
Source:TOI
September 22nd, 2008
VIENNA: The financial crisis could hit the information technology sector, the chief executive of Germany’s Software AG told an Austrian newspaper.
“It could be that customers hold back and delay one or two projects,” CEO Karl-Heinz Streibich told the daily Kurier. He said non-urgent projects were the most likely to be delayed, according to the paper.
Software, which Kurier said makes around 35 per cent of its revenue in the United States, is not seeing a serious hit to its business there. “At the moment we are not seeing any big failures there,” Streibich said.
Source:TOI
September 22nd, 2008
LONDON: Over 11, 000 foreign workers are being brought into Britain by Indian IT companies every year, prompting a trade union to question if the work permit system is being “abused” in the process.
The Sunday Telegraph releases Home Office figures, which it says it obtained after a two-year battle under the Freedom of Information Act, showing that just six specialist Indian IT companies had recruited 11,644 immigrants to work for them in the UK in 2006, the most recent figure available.
The companies are Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Mahindra-BT, Mastek, Infosys Technologies and Satyam Computer Services.
Over a seven-year period these companies were granted work permits to bring 47,000 foreign nationals into the UK. Their annual total has climbed steadily every year since 2000 and has doubled since 2003.
The majority are thought to have been Indian nationals. The Home Office could not say how many have settled in the UK and how many have returned to their homeland.
Tata Consultancy Services is the largest single sponsor of foreign workers. It secured permits for around 4,000 foreign workers in 2006 compared with less than 1,600 in 2000.
Much of the work of the six companies involves outsourcing, where British companies or public-sector organisations bring in a separate company to operate their computer system. In some cases, companies have brought staff from India to Britain to learn about operations such as call-centres, before shutting down the British businesses and moving the staff back to India to replicate the operation there.
A British trade union, Unite, is questioning these figures. It says while it is possible that only foreign workers have the skills required for the specific jobs in question, the granting of work permits “should not be at the cost of resident workers”.
Unite is worried that the Indian companies may be “undercutting” British pay rates in the UK by securing work permits to foreign workers and paying them much less than what their British counterparts would earn in the same rank.
According to The Sunday Telegraph, British IT workers earned an average of £35,000 a year in 2006 while two-thirds of foreign-born employees in the same sector were paid under £30,000 a year. The figures include both employees on short-term and long-term work permits.
Peter Skyte, national officer of Unite, wrote in a report titled “The impact of the work permit scheme on IT professionals in the UK”: “The question needs to be asked whether the skills represented in these figures are not available in the UK, which would be a justifiable use of the work permit system, or whether these companies are bringing in non-resident work permit holders at below going pay rates in the UK, which would not.”
Source:TOI
September 22nd, 2008