India HR News
compiled by Naukri

Corio Inc's R&D Outfit In Bangalore
Corio Inc an enterprise application service provider with an investment of about $20 million has recently set up a R&D unit in Bangalore, which currently is the only unit outside the US. This particular outfit has been set up to provide customer support services for the parent?s clientele from Bangalore and also to carry out research and development operations for the main company. Corio India Infotech Pvt Ltd, which is currently focussing on developing upgrades for two of the five of Corio?s product line iServices, would also decide ramp-up plans too.
Source: 03-10-03 Hindu Business Line: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

IBM Axes 720 Employees
As part of an effort to match workers? skills with jobs, IBM has brought down its workforce of 180,000 services employees by 720. The cuts throughout the US, are a part of company?s regular skills rebalancing, which in general terms is an exercise to match worker skills to the types of services it is offering. IBM has shed jobs this year in its various spheres which include global services, software and microelectronics divisions.
Source: 03-10-03 Hindu Business Line: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Nokia Plans To Hire 150 More
For its large Salo mobile phone plant in Finland, Nokia plans to hire another 150 people to cater to the strong mobile phone market demand. According to the Nokia Mobile Phones spokesman, Mr Kari Tuutti, the mobile phone market is picking up volumes thus needing more people to meet the market needs.This move will take place concurrently with a management and structural revamp. This revamp will lead to the firm splitting its three divisions into four to further substantiate its top position in the cut-throat mobile phones market.
Source: 03-10-03 Hindu Business Line: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Corporates Finding New Bases
The current trend of corporates is of moving out of metros and exploring new cities to save on their costs. With respect to commercial real estate, last year the market has witnessed tremendous change. As part of their long-term space requirement and cost-saving strategy now more and more corporates are expanding into newer facilities from their existing locations. This trend is picking up not only in Bangalore, but also in most of the cities where corporates are moving out to save cost and to overcome the problem of space-shortage.
Source: 03-10-03 The Economic Times: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

PeopleSoft Starts Shedding Jobs
Following the purchase of rival JD Edwards & Co, PeopleSoft Inc has started to bring down its workforce by almost seven percent by dismissing its employees. This was planned previously which the company is implementing now by notifying its workers last week. A few employees have already been dismissed, however the company declined to disclose the number. The company has plans to eliminate between 750 and 1,000 jobs as part of a plan to save up to $207 million in 2004.
Source: 03-10-03 The Financial Express: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Leo Burnett President Steps Down
Mr Bob Brennan the President of Leo Burnett, the Publicis Groupe ad network, is finally stepping down from his post. Temporarily, Linda Wolf, Burnett Chairman & CEO, will assume Brennan?s duties for its operations in North America including its flagship office in Chicago. Mr Brennan who joined Burnett 21 years ago as a media buyer and planner and rose to the post of president at the agency, declined to discuss the situation and reasons for his resignation.
Source: 03-10-03 The Economic Times: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Rise In The Number Of Women Managers
Women are increasingly likely to hold managerial and professional jobs than men, reflecting a trend that is 25 years in the making. This is reflected in education and job status. However, on other measures, women seem to be losing out. Significantly, both sexes seem to be losing out in the fight to carve out free time. Mothers in dual-earning couples for instance report a paltry 54 minutes of personal time in a day. 39 pct of women are now in managerial or professional jobs as compared with 36 pct in 1997 and 24 pct in 1977. These findings are part of a report released during the week in the U S.
Source: 02-10-03 The Financial Express: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Ford To Prune 2,800 Jobs
Ford Motor Co has decided to bring down the strength of the contract workers by about 1,500 and will be cutting down 1,300 open salaried jobs to cut down costs by the end of this year. In order to maintain profitability, the company is axing surplus employees. Ford which has about 79,000 salaried employees worldwide, also plans to eliminate another 50 salaried employees.
Source: 02-10-03 The Economic Times: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

LG Nominates Head For Its Flagship Unit
LG Electronics, in a step to reform the group?s family-controlled structure, has nominated a professional manager as head of its flagship unit. Mr John Koo, Chairman, LG Electronics, the son of founder Mr Koo Tae-Hoi, has been replaced by Mr Kim Ssang-Su, a professional manager who was promoted from vice-chairman. Mr Koo would control 4 units namely, LG Cable, LG-Nikko Copper, LG-Caltex Gas and Kukdong City Gas as part of the restrucuring program
Source: 01-10-03 The Economic Times: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Ballarpur To Announce VRS
Ballarpur Industries is planning to announce a major voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) programme in its factories, including its mother plants. The material handling division will primarily be covered by the VRS programme. The Thapars-promoted domestic paper giant, is planning to prune almost 10% of its total workforce. The scheme is being rolled to boost labour productivity in tandem with machine upgradation in its plants. The VRS is likely to involve a one-time bullet payment.
Source: 01-10-03 The Economic Times: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Corporates Turning To Meditation To Beat Stress
Transcendental Meditation (TM) is the buzz word in the corporate world, currently. More and more corporates are taking to TM, a meditation technique developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Executives who want to strike a balance are increasingly taking a refuge in TM. People who have undergone this programme vouch for the benefits. Marico, which started the TM programme at its Pondicherry factory, is now planning to expand it to its other plants too, after experiencing the benefits of the programme.
Source: 01-10-03 The Economic Times: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

BT Asia Appoints New VP
British Telecom for its India and south-east Asia operations, has recently announced the appointment of Mr Richard Bagley as Vice-President. Mr Bagley would be based in New Delhi and will be responsible for managing the sales and marketing operations teams in the Asia-Pacific regional markets of India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Source: 01-10-03 Hindu Business Line: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

IICT To Get New Chief
Dr J.S. Yadav who is a director grade scientist and coordinator-organic chemical sciences and a Fellow of the National Academy, on October 1 will take charge as Director of the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT). Dr Yadav will replace Dr K.V. Raghavan who is retiring.
Source: 01-10-03 The Finanacial Express: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Hind Lever's Garden Reach Unit Restarts
After facing a six months closure, the Garden Reach factory of Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) has recently restarted its operations. The workers were informed beforehand to resume duty, however they will not be paid any salaries or wages during the closure period in lieu they will receive a recoverable advance of Rs 20,000 each to be deducted in monthly instalments. As per the tripartite agreement, the 150 workers on contract basis have been separated, while all the permanent employees have been put on the rolls.
Source: 01-10-03 Business Standard: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Birla SunLife Gets New CEO
Birla SunLife Asset Management Company has finally elected Mr S.V. Prasad the Chief Executive Officer, after a lot of speculation over the appointment. Mr Prasad who is likely to join by October this year, is the former Chief of Zurich India Mutual Fund. Since the time Mr Jeremy Beswick left two years ago, the post has been lying vacant.
Source: 01-10-03 Business Standard: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

HCL's BPO Chief Quits, Joins vCustomer
Mr Sujit Bakshi, HCL BPO head is all set to join the Warberg-Pincus funded US-based BPO, vCustomer and has already submitted his resignation. During Bakshi's tenure at HCL, the BPO's operations grew from a two-member project team to a 2,300 strong base in 20 months. Mr Bakshi will now be heading vCustomer?s operations as President India and Head of Global Operations. As head of India operations, Mr Bakshi will be responsible for strengthening and consolidating vCustomer's position in the country by enabling the company to win and execute multi-crore, multi-year contracts.
Source: 30-09-03 The Economic Times: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Birla Sun Life AMC Fund Manager Resigns
After a seven year term with the company, Mr Anil Sarin, Fund Manager, Birla Sun Life has submitted his resignation. With this, two top fund managers have quit the company within a year. Mr Sarin confirmed his leaving the company; he however declined to disclose his future plans. The company is yet to find a replacement for Mr Sarin, according to sources.
Source: 30-09-03 The Economic Times: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Sugar Factories Will Now Require MBAs
Co-operative sugar factories in India which are said to be politically sensitive will soon start recruiting MBAs to fill its top management positions. The government is all set to create a professional cadre of Managing Directors which will manage and run the units, instead of promoting people to that position. A process has been formulated to select MDs to fill the current vacancies where in 50% of whom will be freshers holding MBA degree and the rest will be filled by following the existing method. However, this new procedure has also been opposed by the Maharashtra Rajya Sahakari Sakhar Sangh (MRSSS), who believe that freshers may know nothing of running a sugar factory.
Source: 30-09-03 The Economic Times: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

The Benches Go Empty As Utilisation Rate Goes High
The Indian IT companies are once again experiencing an increase in the utilisation rate which is expected to cross the peak of 78-80 percent seen during 2000, the peak of the IT boom. The utilisation rate is directly proportional to the percentage of employees in a company who are actively working on projects for customers and are generating revenue. The number of such employees are increasing gradually in the IT industry as the companies are experiencing a rapid ramp-up, consequently lowering the number of people on the bench, or in general terms unutilised manpower, to almost negligible. The utilisation rates are now shooting up as the business volumes are swelling and the only people on the bench are those who are either on leave or on corporate training programmes for skill upgradation.
Source: 30-09-03 The Economic Times: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Mr Damodaran To Join As IDBI Chief
Mr M. Damodaran has been appointed as the chairman of Industrial Development Bank of India, replacing Mr P.P. Vora. Mr Damodaran will take twin charges of a fund manager as UTI AMC chief and that of a term lender in IDBI. He will hold concurrent charge of the post of both, chairman of UTI as well as CMD of IDBI with effect from October 1.
Source: 30-09-03 Hindu Business Line: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

ITES Industry May Soon Progress In Kolkata
Bangalore which currently is considered to be the absolute epitome of an IT city, may soon get competitors. According to a recent survey by the UK-based real-estate consultancy, India Property Research Ltd (IPR), the smaller cities and even cities like Kolkata may soon witness a major influx and expansion of ITes business. Kolkata, which has hardly seen much flow of funds in the BPO sector, has huge potential and there is a possibility that it gets added to the list in the coming two years. The only thing, the study suggests, that cities like Kolkata need to change is the perception existing in the industry that it too has space and infrastructure for ITes and can be the next possible destination for the ITes revolution.
Source: 30-09-03 The Economic Times: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

TCS Targets Global Image Makeover
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is training all its employees to speak and understand at least one foreign language in a bid to become a global player in the knowledge sector. The move is not limited to employees just learning a language but also making them conversant with other soft skills like culture and etiquette of at least one foreign country. A dedicated department for taking up the challenge of language training programmes across all its offices, development centres, departments and groups has been set up. Ms Indubala Ashok was hired as the TCS foreign language initiative head last year to spearhead this project across TCS offices.
Source: 29-09-03 The Financial Express: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Quintiles To Ramp Up India Operations
Quintiles, a $2-billion contract research organisation (CRO), has brought out a new India specific strategy. It intends to hire nearly 200 more people in its ITenabled services activities in India. There is also a plan to grow its Bangalore location into a major data management/IT hub for Quintiles globally. Overall, the company has 450 employees in the country, with 250 numbers in sales and marketing while 100 in clinical research and the rest (100) in ITES ( ECG analysis and data management).Quintiles currently employs 100 professionals in ITES, handling data management and analysis of ECG (electro-cardiogram) for clinical trials worldwide. The company plans to increase by threefold the number of employees in research and ITES in India by 2005.
Source: 29-09-03 The Financial Express: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Indian BPO, ITES Growth At $24 Billion By 2008
By 2008 the size of BPO and ITES (IT Enabled Services) business in the country is expected to top $21-$24 billion. Mr S Mahalingam CFO, TCS predicts the global outsourcing of BPO and ITES operations to India will continue in the year ahead. He said the ITES segment would beat the IT services industry in terms of the rate of growth. In 2002-03, the ITES industry in India generated a revenue of Rs 11,700 crore, a rise of over 65 per cent from 2001-02. India?s unbeatable advantage includes the availability of an English-speaking population, availability of technically qualified people at competitive costs apart from a virtual 12-hour time lag with the US. Mr Mahalingam was speaking at a conference on ITES organised by the CII in Kolkata.
Source: 28-09-03 Hindu Business Line: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Daimler Head Quits NYSE
The CEO, of Daimler-Chrysler Mr Juergen Schrempp, has stepped down from the board of directors of the NYSE because of the recent salary scandal involving Mr Richard Grasso which is plaguing the NYSE.
Source: 28-09-03 Hindu Business Line: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Board Member Resigns From NYSE
Mr. H Carl McCall resigned from the New York Stock Exchange board in what may foreshadow a series of departures sparked by the ousting of CEO Mr Richard Grasso over a $ 140 million payout.Mr McCall had previously defended Mr Grasso?s compensation, considered excessive by critics, but as the furore increased he supported Mr Grasso?s departure.
Source: 27-09-03 The Economic Times: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Hitachi Reshuffles Top Positions
Hitachi Home & Life Solutions (HHLS) has reshuffled its top managerial positions in India. Mr Amit Doshi, hitherto the sales head moves to marketing. Mr Amit Gupta who headed marketing will move to corporate affairs and human resources. The current managerial shuffle is part of a three-phased restructuring programme, which Hitachi has charted out. This includes coming out of the red in 2003-2004 to be followed by enhanced brand positioning and expansion into new categories of durables.
Source: 27-09-03 The Economic Times: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

ISB Governing Board Gets A New Member
STAR group Chairman & CEO Mr. James Murdoch joined the governing board of the Indian School of Business (ISB). He also serves the boards of New Corporation subsidiaries, British Sky Broadcasting group (BskyB), News Digital Systems (NDS), boards of the YankeeNets and the board of trustees of the Harvard Lampoon. Mr Murdoch graduated from Harvard University.
Source: 27-09-03 The Economic Times: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

GRO Expands Its Operations
Chennai based Global Realty Outsourcing, a BPO firm, plans to expand its operations by employing more people by June 2004. CEO Mr. Nicholas B Laird said outsourcing was yet to catch up in a big way in the real estate vertical and the segment offered huge potential. It plans to increase headcount from 350 to 1000 persons. More than 50% are CA's and MBA's who analyse figures for US clients as an enabling tool in real estate investment decisions.
Source: 27-09-03 The Economic Times: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Levis To Shut US Units
Struggling jeans manufacturer Levi Strauss & Co has closed down its remaining North American plants, rendering nearly 2000 employees out of work and completing its withdrawal from the US manufacturing segment. The retrenchment and plant closure is part of a restructuring exercise at the 150-year old company, which is facing increasing competition from cheaper discount brands and pricey designer labels eroding its profitability and existence. Like other apparel companies, Levi Strauss finds it more efficient to manufacture overseas, many of which are located in Latin America.
Source: 27-09-03 Business Standard: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

AtStake CTO Fired After MS Report
A report signed by seven researchers, which concluded that the dominance of Microsoft software on PCs has made computer networks susceptible to ``massive, cascading failures" has led to the CTO of Atstake resigning.The chief technology officer of computer security firm AtStake, which consults for Microsoft Corp, has been asked to leave after taking part in writing a report criticising Windows as posing a national cybersecurity risk. AtStake has confirmed Mr Dan Geer is no longer with the company, but did not say if he resigned or was fired.
Source: 27-09-03 The Economic Times: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Nokia - Reshuffle At The Top
Nokia is undergoing a series of top management changes aimed at an organisational overhaul, naming a new chief financial officer, in a bid to maintain its position as the world?s top cellphone maker. The move is intended at grooming a successor to Chief Executive Mr Jorma Ollila. Under his stewardship Nokia climbed to the top of the mobile handset industry. He is under contract till the summer of 2006. The company named Mr Rick Simonson as its new chief financial officer in place of Mr Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who will head the Mobile Phones division.
Source: 27-09-03 The Economic Times: Delhi Edition Compiled by www.naukri.com

Motown Rides The BPO Wave
India's BPO reputation has started making itself felt even in Motown . As per a study by consultancy firm AT Kearney, which sampled opinions from American auto executives, India emerged as the outsourcing destination of choice with 24% of the respondents giving it the thumbs up. Auto hub China comes in second, with 15% of the votes, while older hubs like Mexico and Brazil manage 13% and 10% respectively. Even big Asian markets like Thailand and Australia cornered a mere 2% and 1% votes in the survey, while large supply centres like Canada and Hungary fared a little better at 7% and 6%.
Source: 27-09-03 The Economic Times: Delhi Editio