Industry: Rupee fall, high rates hurting growth
Business Standard
Low growth, policy paralysis, sharp fluctuations in the rupee and high interest rates have cast a shadow on the macroeconomic situation, Business Standard reports. Companies had anticipated an economic growth of 9 percent to 10 percent. Within a year, this sentiment has changed. Uncertainty, such as the rupee’s sharp fall, was causing this despondency, Ajit Ranade, chief economist, Aditya Birla Group, said at the PricewaterhouseCoopers-Business Standard CEO summit. Companies were reluctant to make fresh investments, a trend reflected in economic growth. “You can’t just have consumption-led growth, which stokes inflation,” said Sajjid Chinoy, India economist, JPMorgan. A key finding of a global PwC survey of CEOs was that senior talent was scarce. Also, Indian CEOs were not as focused on innovation and talent management as their peers in China, it found.

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Tata Steel Europe to slash workforce by 14%
Financial Express
Tata Steel Europe is planning to shed 14 percent jobs to improve profit and earnings for fiscal 2012, Financial Express reports. The company is looking to slash 933 jobs, save on energy costs by investing in blast furnace and use cheaper coking coal from its mines in Mozambique. The construction steel division will see its workforce of 11,600 halved. It had already reduced the workforce by 7 percent in 2011 and the cuts will continue this year too. Locations of the plants where jobs will be cut will be made known at a later date. Tata Steel’s European operations have been telling heavily on its finances. Eurofer, which represents steel producers in the European Union (EU), said earlier this month that austerity programmes in most EU countries have taken a toll on both public and private investment in construction.

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Survey: Smaller cities set for more hiring in H1
The Hindu Business Line
A MyHiringClub.com survey says recruitment will increase in smaller towns and mini metros during the first half of 2012, The Hindu Business Line reports. The trend will be led by hiring in engineering and manufacturing. Recruitment is expected to grow 11 percent in tier II cities such as Pune and Hyderabad between January and June, compared to the previous year. Pune and Chandigarh would contribute 26 percent to the total recruitment, followed by Ahmedabad at 22 percent and Lucknow 21 percent, it found. Tier III cities, such as Jaipur, Ghaziabad and Kochi, will see an upswing of 8 percent during the period. The cities are emerging as cost-effective destinations, with their attrition rates lower compared to the metros. Some 1,000 employees and hiring consultants participated in the survey, conducted across 112 cities in 12 industry sectors.

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U.S. visa denials surge, raising concerns for IT
Economic Times
Visa denials for skilled Indian professionals travelling to the U.S. have soared, Economic Times reports. Rejection rates for H-1B visas were as high as 17 percent and 27 percent for L-1B visa petitions in the last financial year, according to the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP). Five years ago, these numbers stood at 11 percent and 7 percent, respectively, the foundation pointed out. The report is based on data released by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. In addition, firms seeking visas also faced massive delays as clarifications, or “requests for evidence”, increased to 63 percent from 24 percent five years ago. Indian IT firms have complained that higher visa rejections have resulted in loss of business and revenue. In response to the protectionist trend in the U.S., they are increasingly talking of plans to step up local hiring.

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Retail gets a cutting edge from experience
Economic Times / Mint
When the Mahindra Group set up its chain of mother and child retail stores Mom & Me, it engaged “supermoms and superdads” instead of the usual customer care executives, Economic Times reports. These experienced parents or grandparents offer customers, especially first-time parents, advice on choosing the right product. As a result, the company has achieved conversion rates of more than 50 percent, double the industry average. In an emerging trend, the organised retail sector is hiring specialists at high salaries. They can influence shoppers, provide personalised shopping advice and thus increase conversion. At a time when consumer sentiment has been damped by the downturn, these specialist employees are giving retailers the critical edge. Diamond jewellery chain Orra has begun deploying designers on the shop floor to help customers make purchases. CEO Vijay Jain says the conversion rate has since jumped 10 percent.

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Future Group sheds staff amid store closures
Times of India
Future Group has trimmed its workforce by 3,000 employees in the last 12 months amid mounting debt, Times of India reports. The job losses include both natural attrition as well as employee exits due to store closures. The Kishore Biyani-led company will not fill up vacancies and transfer employees from closed stores to other functioning ones. The December quarter was a dismal one in terms of consumer sentiment. With debt estimated at $1 billion, the company closed five independent Food Bazaar outlets and 11 e-zone stores. The group’s retail business had a headcount of around 40,000 a year ago, which is now down to around 36,000. While the company has added more than 2 million square feet of retail space in the past one year, it has also been able to increase employee productivity on a per square feet basis.

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Law firms dilute control to attract the best
Financial Express
Some Indian law firms are diluting control by transferring ownership to surviving partners as they struggle to retain and attract talent, Financial Express reports. Family-controlled Khaitan & Co. has retained 25 percent of equity, with the rest distributed among its 57 lawyer partners. Partner family members and their rights have also shrunk in the past few years. Jsa Advocates and Solicitors, India’s third largest law firm, has adopted the same route. Promoters Berjis Desai and Jyoti Sagar will be left with zero shares when they retire at the age of 60. The efforts have paid off. Jsa has grown to 250 lawyers from 40 in the past decade. Khaitan has 300 lawyers. Suhas Tuljapurkar, managing partner of Legasis Partners, says the trend will continue to attract and retain talent. “Unless the ownership quotient is shared among partners, institutions may fall apart.”

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Tweeting, the latest buzzword in outsourcing
Economic Times
Companies such as Nokia India, Kotak Securities, Reliance Digital and Reckitt Benckiser are using Twitter to create a buzz around their brands, Economic Times reports. While they have outsourced their Twitter handles, ICICI Bank, Dell, IBM and Flipkart have an in-house team to manage tweets. Others, such as Bloggers Mind, Convonix, Interactive Avenues and OgilvyOne, provide third-party tweets. Twitter has emerged as a key link in an integrated marketing chain. Communications on the website range from customer feedback and new job announcements to grievance redressal and promotional campaigns. ICICI Bank uses it for an extension of its “khayaal aapka” effort, an endeavour to be where the customers are. It monitors 200,000 social media mentions, of which 70,000 are tweets. Nokia uses the platform to engage with consumers on a real-time basis, share tips and information, and look into queries or feedback.

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Women better at handling interview stress
Financial Express
Research has found that women, although typically more stressed about being interviewed, perform better than their male counterparts, Financial Express reports. Three researchers from University of Western Ontario conducted two different studies on how men and women handle job interview stress. One study examined the effects of job interview anxiety on performance. The results confirmed previous findings, that interview anxiety is a negative predictor of performance. Justin Feeney, member of the research team, said even though women experienced more interview anxiety than men, it did not affect their performance as much because of different coping strategies. Women would seek social support from loved ones, friends and colleagues about their anxiety, and practise mock interviews. Men, however, would pretend the interview was not happening, watch TV or engage in something else to relieve the stress.

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People Moves & Recruitments

Bajaj Electricals Executive Director quits
Financial Express
R Ramakrishnan, executive director of Bajaj Electricals, is stepping down, Financial Express reports. He is leaving “to explore alternative professional opportunities”, the company said. Ramakrishnan joined as president in November 1999 after a 17-year career at Asian Paints. He was promoted as president and COO in 2002, and inducted on the company’s board as an executive director in 2006.

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Dell taps India ED & GM from Wipro
Business Standard
Dell has appointed Harsha Lal executive director and general manager, India, Business Standard reports. Prior to this, he was vice-president and head of Wipro’s global process manufacturing industry vertical.

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Mogae Media picks Chief Delights Officer
exchange4media
Tushar Dhingra, former COO of Big Cinemas, has joined Mogae Media as chief delights officer, exchange4media reports. He will look after the discounts-deals-delights space at Mogae, a mobile monetisation venture launched by veteran ad man Sandeep Goyal.

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