
Young techies worried as IT jobs bite
Nobody likes to lose a job or get a poor wage increase. And certainly not a youngster opting to work in an industry in which India is a superpower and salaries are a big pull. But the virtually impossible is happening this year, and its human cuts perhaps run deeper than the economic crunch.
Rohit Singh, (name changed), an engineer working for the Pune office of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the country’s biggest software exporter, is a worried man these days. His 23-year-old colleague who was working on a project for a US-based telecom client, has just been sacked for “non-performance.”
While the official line in the leader of the multi-billion-dollar IT industry is that 500 people are being “disengaged” on grounds of performance, the overarching background of a likely US recession and a strong rupee tell a different story.
Increasing wage costs, which account for 45 per cent of an IT company’s revenues, are the main reason for these job cuts, industry officials say. There could be more job cuts in the offing, add human resource consultants.
For about a decade now, IT majors like TCS, Wipro and Infosys have been merrily hiring fresh graduates to serve what often looks like bottomless demand. But training costs to make fresh graduates yield productive hours are rising.
According to industry watchers, freshers form in excess of 50 per cent of the total workforce. Often, they are kept on the “bench” as they wait for work to arrive, but staggering demand and rising wages mean brakes on that luxury for IT companies. Young techies like Singh are anxious, because freshers are not treated with a kid glove anymore. “We are concerned about our jobs and the talk inside the company is that the salary hikes will be much lesser as compared to last year,” says an employee at TCS in Pune.
TCS has an employee strength of 1,08,000 and 500 workers getting the sack may not be a big deal, but it is not the only company that seems to be in a cutback mode – if rumours are to be believed.
Multinational IBM’s chief executive Sam Palmisano went out of his way to assure employees that there would be no job cuts, but the company that has tens of thousands of techies working in India did not respond to queries on the issue from Hindustan Times.
Industry experts say quality of work is critical as Indian IT companies move from hourly billing to service-based fees.

Disagreeing with govt is not sedition, says SC
- India’s sedition law has an interesting past — it was introduced by the British in 1870, decided to be dropped from the Constitution in 1948 after discussions of the Constituent Assembly.

Centre plans tourism push to mark 75 years of Independence
- India will also promote tourism by celebrating 2022 as the Visit India Year through a promotion campaign highlighting India’s strengths like heritage, culture, art, wellness and yoga.

2 held for murder of sexual assault survivor’s father
- The ADG has constituted teams of police personnel from Aligarh to assist the Hathras police.

Teen held for murder of girl after rape bid
- The incident took place on Sunday afternoon, when the girl went to a wheat field, owned by the family of the accused, to collect fodder and water.

Only Centre can enforce new digital media rules: I&B ministry to states
- The provisions under the new rules relate to the code of ethics for digital news publishers, setting up of a grievance redressal system and the requirement of disclosure of information to Centre, the ministry said.

Spectrograph designed for Uttarakhand telescope
- The instrument will support the 3.6 metre Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) in Uttarakhand, an official release from the department of science said on Wednesday.

‘Ceasefire need of the hour... desirable for both India, Pak’: Lt-Gen BS Raju
- Lt-Gen BS Raju said a quiet LoC will allow us to address the challenge of terrorism in a focused manner.

ED begins probe against Franklin Templeton
- The central agency has registered a case on the basis of an FIR registered by Chennai Economic Offences Wing in September last year.

Experts slam claim that human activity not behind Chamoli disaster
- Dhyani added that the burden on the ecology due to construction on Himalayan slopes made the region prone to disasters.

Supreme Court issues notice on Gautam Navlakha’s plea for default bail
- Navlakha claimed in his petition filed through advocate Shadan Farasat that the 90-day period for filing of charge sheet was over and he was entitled to default bail under Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

GJM leader close to Bimal Gurung arrested under POCSO in Sikkim
- Lama was being considered as the GJM candidate for the Kalimpong assembly seat in the coming polls later this month.

Centre differs with SC on additional courts for cheque bounce cases
- Unhappy with the response, the bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to appear in the case along with Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Vikramjeet Banerjee, who presented the note to the Court.

Man in Maharashtra wanted to ride horse to office to overcome spinal problem
- The officer withdrew his request after an orthopaedic surgeon said his purpose would not be served by buying a horse.

India signs pact with Philippines for supply of BrahMos missile
