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 the media, 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.
Agencies
Showing posts with label MAIT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MAIT. Show all posts
Monday, November 2, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Have IT cos skipped campus recruitment for 2009-10?
With Nasscom, the software industry's apex body advising its members not to go to campuses for recruitment, the placements at engineering colleges has dried up. However, although 2008-09 was a difficult year for training and placement officers (TPO) at engineering colleges, 2009-10 could be the most critical year for campus placements, reports Economic Times.
JN Pitambare, Dean of Sinhagad Institute says, "Normally, 75-80 percent of the placements used to take place by mid-August. However, this year I will be happy if I am able to place even 10-15 percent of our students by December."
SV Dravid, TPO, DY Patil College of Engineering at Akurdi, near Pune said, "Last year, we had placed 150 students by this time. This year, not a single student has been placed. I hope the situation improves by December." Normally the big software companies finish recruitment by mid-August, placing around 75 percent of the college students.The core sector companies used to come from August, but this year they are non-committal.
Companies have been telling TPOs that their placement requirements are yet to be firmed up since things are not planned yet or they do not know how many projects they will get. "Most of the core companies are in a dilemma. They have promised to come for placements by December," said TPO Federation President Professor Shital Rawandale. Not only are there fewer jobs on offer for 2009-10 but the companies are adopting various techniques to defer the joining dates of candidates recruited last year or even to reject them.
Top colleges like the College of Engineering Pune (COEP) are also facing problems. "Of the 576 students placed last year, only 150 have joined till now. For the rest of them, joining has been deferred from July to December," said Assistant TPO, COEP, SA Meshram.
Some of the selected candidates are being asked to take more tests. With the recession, singing of bonds has also returned. "Some small and medium-sized software companies now want the candidates whom they had already selected to enter into two-year bonds," said a TPO.
Economic Times
JN Pitambare, Dean of Sinhagad Institute says, "Normally, 75-80 percent of the placements used to take place by mid-August. However, this year I will be happy if I am able to place even 10-15 percent of our students by December."
SV Dravid, TPO, DY Patil College of Engineering at Akurdi, near Pune said, "Last year, we had placed 150 students by this time. This year, not a single student has been placed. I hope the situation improves by December." Normally the big software companies finish recruitment by mid-August, placing around 75 percent of the college students.The core sector companies used to come from August, but this year they are non-committal.
Companies have been telling TPOs that their placement requirements are yet to be firmed up since things are not planned yet or they do not know how many projects they will get. "Most of the core companies are in a dilemma. They have promised to come for placements by December," said TPO Federation President Professor Shital Rawandale. Not only are there fewer jobs on offer for 2009-10 but the companies are adopting various techniques to defer the joining dates of candidates recruited last year or even to reject them.
Top colleges like the College of Engineering Pune (COEP) are also facing problems. "Of the 576 students placed last year, only 150 have joined till now. For the rest of them, joining has been deferred from July to December," said Assistant TPO, COEP, SA Meshram.
Some of the selected candidates are being asked to take more tests. With the recession, singing of bonds has also returned. "Some small and medium-sized software companies now want the candidates whom they had already selected to enter into two-year bonds," said a TPO.
Economic Times
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Terror strikes; Is outsourcing safe?
Terror times; Is outsourcing safe?
large global firm runs its trading desk out of Mumbai. Bookings for a leading airline are happening out of another office in a neighbouring city, while the telecom infrastructure of an overseas operator is being remotely monitored from another location in the country.
A terror attack on any of these sites can have significant implications for corporations in the US and other parts of the developed world as India emerges as the world’s back-office.
For instance, if a trade is not squared off on time, the firm will have to carry higher liabilities. Wednesday’s attack raises questions about the vulnerability of these locations to terror threats and the preparedness of firms and authorities to tackle them.
The issue assumes importance as nearly seven out of every 10 outsourced processes come to India, according to industry estimates. While 6-7 years ago, business process outsourcing (BPO) mostly involved basic data entry, a number of mission critical processes such as airline bookings and investment research are now taking place out of offices in Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore.
In its strategic review, Nasscom, the apex industry body, notes, “Indian BPO has undergone significant transformation since its inception over a decade ago... The past few years have seen the scope of these services expand progressively to include more complex processes involving rule-based decision making and research requiring informed judgment and domain knowledge,” the apex industry body notes.
Indian firms also manage infrastructure worth over $3-4 billion remotely for clients. Damage to these locations can bring down desktops and servers, besides crippling entire sections of organisations outside India. “After 9/11, there is a greater appreciation of the risk arising from a terror attack,” admits KPMG executive director Akhilesh Tuteja.
“But the level of preparedness even for mission critical operations is below average,” he adds. The redundancy plan usually involves a backup and mutiple service providers to ensure connectivity. But process capability and an ability to swiftly execute the process at another centre are not a reality in most cases.
“Disaster recovery plans are like an insurance you may never use. There is now an awareness about the need to have them, but the decisions are usually postponed because this is not an investment that will result in growth. Firms usually make investments for growth,” says PriceWaterhouseCoopers managing consultant Nikhil Donde.
Companies are saving costs amid the slowdown, as every bit can eat into margins. Multinational parents are managing a majority of the mission critical operations by way of captives. Ideally, 70% of the process should be offshored and 30% retained at the onsite location to minimise the risks, according to Mr Tuteja. But again there is a trade-off on costs, with real benefits kicking in only when the process is completly offshored.
In client contracts with third-party firms, it is not uncommon to find clauses related to business process continuity (BCP). However, these clauses rarely go into specifics and are usually interpreted in terms of having a multi-locational presence, back-up capability and multiple connectivity providers. Rarely do they consider whether the alternate locations will have people with the necessary skills. And this is really the biggest threat in a terror attack, when people at one location can be killed, say the experts.
Source: Economic Times
large global firm runs its trading desk out of Mumbai. Bookings for a leading airline are happening out of another office in a neighbouring city, while the telecom infrastructure of an overseas operator is being remotely monitored from another location in the country.
A terror attack on any of these sites can have significant implications for corporations in the US and other parts of the developed world as India emerges as the world’s back-office.
For instance, if a trade is not squared off on time, the firm will have to carry higher liabilities. Wednesday’s attack raises questions about the vulnerability of these locations to terror threats and the preparedness of firms and authorities to tackle them.
The issue assumes importance as nearly seven out of every 10 outsourced processes come to India, according to industry estimates. While 6-7 years ago, business process outsourcing (BPO) mostly involved basic data entry, a number of mission critical processes such as airline bookings and investment research are now taking place out of offices in Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore.
In its strategic review, Nasscom, the apex industry body, notes, “Indian BPO has undergone significant transformation since its inception over a decade ago... The past few years have seen the scope of these services expand progressively to include more complex processes involving rule-based decision making and research requiring informed judgment and domain knowledge,” the apex industry body notes.
Indian firms also manage infrastructure worth over $3-4 billion remotely for clients. Damage to these locations can bring down desktops and servers, besides crippling entire sections of organisations outside India. “After 9/11, there is a greater appreciation of the risk arising from a terror attack,” admits KPMG executive director Akhilesh Tuteja.
“But the level of preparedness even for mission critical operations is below average,” he adds. The redundancy plan usually involves a backup and mutiple service providers to ensure connectivity. But process capability and an ability to swiftly execute the process at another centre are not a reality in most cases.
“Disaster recovery plans are like an insurance you may never use. There is now an awareness about the need to have them, but the decisions are usually postponed because this is not an investment that will result in growth. Firms usually make investments for growth,” says PriceWaterhouseCoopers managing consultant Nikhil Donde.
Companies are saving costs amid the slowdown, as every bit can eat into margins. Multinational parents are managing a majority of the mission critical operations by way of captives. Ideally, 70% of the process should be offshored and 30% retained at the onsite location to minimise the risks, according to Mr Tuteja. But again there is a trade-off on costs, with real benefits kicking in only when the process is completly offshored.
In client contracts with third-party firms, it is not uncommon to find clauses related to business process continuity (BCP). However, these clauses rarely go into specifics and are usually interpreted in terms of having a multi-locational presence, back-up capability and multiple connectivity providers. Rarely do they consider whether the alternate locations will have people with the necessary skills. And this is really the biggest threat in a terror attack, when people at one location can be killed, say the experts.
Source: Economic Times
Friday, November 28, 2008
Mumbai 9/11 add woes to global IT industry
India's $52 billion outsourcing industry, battered by a global financial crisis that is squeezing its business clients, faces more Mumbai terror attack short-term challenges in the wake of attacks on Mumbai that killed more than 100 people.
Industry officials said prospective overseas clients were likely to put off planned visits to India because of the attacks, even though most software and back-office services firms were operating normally.
"This will surely introduce some sort of concern among clients," said Krishnakumar Natarajan, CEO of mid-sized software and R&D services provider MindTree Ltd.
"There was some expectation clients would start visiting India from January after the end of the annual holiday season. That will now get pushed away for some more time."
The software and back-office services sector, which earns billions of dollars from exports, is reeling from a global slowdown and turmoil in the financial sector, one of its major markets.
The chief financial officer at Wipro Ltd, India's No.3 software services exporter, told a Reuters India Investment Summit this week he expected a pickup in growth in the first quarter as companies firm up outsourcing plans, though many businesses will likely delay decisions and tighten costs.
India's large pool of English-speaking engineering workers and cheaper wages have helped attract outsourcing from western firms ranging from Citigroup and Goldman Sachs to Cisco Systems Inc and Nortel.
India's outsourcers compete against larger IT services firms such as IBM and Accenture.
"We have to wait for things to settle. This is a temporary aberration," said T V Mohandas Pai, a board member at Infosys Technologies, India's No.2 software services exporter.
"If countries issue advisories, it means some travel will be deferred. I think people will use technology or we'll go and visit our clients. Business will go on," he said.
"We have seen terrorist attacks happen in different parts of the world. It's unfortunate it has happened in Mumbai and I think business is confident the government and authorities will get to the bottom of it," he added. Bruce McIndoe, a travel security expert and president of iJET Intelligent Risk Systems, a private intelligence firm, said he had already advised his Mumbai terror attack corporate clients to postpone travel to Mumbai, and warned there would be "ripple effects".
Som Mittal, president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies, India's premier software industry lobby group, said companies were likely to be more cautious, but business would continue.
"We will not let the show stop as a result of the attacks," he said.
In July, eight small bombs hit the city of Bangalore, which is home to more than 1,500 Indian and multinational software and back-office firms. They increased security as a result.
"I think now more and more customers will be looking at what the Indian companies are doing to manage risk. They will ask what their disaster recovery and business continuity plans are," said Avinash Vashistha, chief executive of consultancy Tholons Inc.
"In the short-term, companies will see an impact as their clients stay away from travelling to India."
Industry officials said prospective overseas clients were likely to put off planned visits to India because of the attacks, even though most software and back-office services firms were operating normally.
"This will surely introduce some sort of concern among clients," said Krishnakumar Natarajan, CEO of mid-sized software and R&D services provider MindTree Ltd.
"There was some expectation clients would start visiting India from January after the end of the annual holiday season. That will now get pushed away for some more time."
The software and back-office services sector, which earns billions of dollars from exports, is reeling from a global slowdown and turmoil in the financial sector, one of its major markets.
The chief financial officer at Wipro Ltd, India's No.3 software services exporter, told a Reuters India Investment Summit this week he expected a pickup in growth in the first quarter as companies firm up outsourcing plans, though many businesses will likely delay decisions and tighten costs.
India's large pool of English-speaking engineering workers and cheaper wages have helped attract outsourcing from western firms ranging from Citigroup and Goldman Sachs to Cisco Systems Inc and Nortel.
India's outsourcers compete against larger IT services firms such as IBM and Accenture.
"We have to wait for things to settle. This is a temporary aberration," said T V Mohandas Pai, a board member at Infosys Technologies, India's No.2 software services exporter.
"If countries issue advisories, it means some travel will be deferred. I think people will use technology or we'll go and visit our clients. Business will go on," he said.
"We have seen terrorist attacks happen in different parts of the world. It's unfortunate it has happened in Mumbai and I think business is confident the government and authorities will get to the bottom of it," he added. Bruce McIndoe, a travel security expert and president of iJET Intelligent Risk Systems, a private intelligence firm, said he had already advised his Mumbai terror attack corporate clients to postpone travel to Mumbai, and warned there would be "ripple effects".
Som Mittal, president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies, India's premier software industry lobby group, said companies were likely to be more cautious, but business would continue.
"We will not let the show stop as a result of the attacks," he said.
In July, eight small bombs hit the city of Bangalore, which is home to more than 1,500 Indian and multinational software and back-office firms. They increased security as a result.
"I think now more and more customers will be looking at what the Indian companies are doing to manage risk. They will ask what their disaster recovery and business continuity plans are," said Avinash Vashistha, chief executive of consultancy Tholons Inc.
"In the short-term, companies will see an impact as their clients stay away from travelling to India."
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