According to most of the new papers and blogs, Infosys is already headed down itself into serious resource crisis. While Economic Times says "Infosys may have seen 4,000 staff exits in February", according to Hindustan Times "S. Gopalkrishnan CEO and managing director of Infosys shot off a mail to Infoscions last week seeking to assuage hurt sentiments, obliquely admitting that the management was willing to address some of the critical issues that employees are not happy about".
The problem looks two fold. "Business turn around in the IT space in India" appears to be an official reason "the HR policies are seen as the main catalyst" for the accelerated exodus.
Again according to HT: "officially, Infosys says its attrition level is 11.6 per cent for Oct-Dec 2009. However, industry sources say the current quarter, whose figures will be disclosed only next month, has been a matter of concern for the company in view of a higher-than-expected departure of employees. Company officials are not giving details". But the numbers on the blogs are going as high as 12,000 since Jan 2010. That is dangerous, and alarming figure.
No wonder, alarmed by turn of events Kris, the CEO promised "a task force to look into and champion employee engagement in every unit"
Is it too late? Probably yes, according to some of the blogs over the Internet. While most blame "poor HR policies and recent iRACE implementation as trigger", general consensus is "Infosys already moved away from the business ethos of iconic founder, N R Narayana Murthy".
Infosys is no doubt is having turbulent times since the down turn started. It is struggling to balance amongst the many for example - market expectations, growth, return, employee expectations, values and probably greed of few Infocians. Unlike most of the Indian companies - Infosys is built on the NRN brand and his legendary rag to riches story.
While most of the early Infosians - became dollar millionaires, many are left out in the growth story. In addition to this, the general feeling amongst the employees is "they are tech coolies" and while they "slog and work hard being billable" most of the "cream is taken by the 'non working' managers". While this is a long term issue for most of the Indian IT companies, the new angle for Infosys today is "HR poking". Added to this, most of the Indian IT companies are struggling to match the MNC's like Accenture who are keen to beat them on their own turf.
As seen, most of the bloggers are not mincing words to blame Mohandas Pai or Nandita Gurjar, senior vice president and global head of human resources, for the current exodus. It is nothing more than HR fiasco. And here is the key indicator: "HR always have sweet and sour policies. We have to see which policy is in play to measure the state of the company. In case of the Infosys, without any doubt, sour policies are in play and business should have understood the point"
Even with 20,000 resources on bench of the 100,000+ Infocians, if the emerging numbers are true, then Infosys is indeed in deep trouble. It also clearly tells that, all those who are leaving are getting better opportunities and hence the rivals are cashing on the Infosys crisis.
With NRN and Nandan Nilekani off the radar, Kris term is due to end - I think Infosys is going to face more domestic challenges than any other Indian IT company.
Showing posts with label Indian IT Careers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indian IT Careers. Show all posts
Friday, March 12, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Indian Students and Racist Attacks
Indian students in Australia are in focus for some time, due to "racist" attacks. The intensity of these attacks have now come to a tipping point - endangering the relationship between the India and Australia. Why these attacks are not abating? Are these, really racist attacks? Why these are happening just in the recent time with higher intensity? is it something more to be analyzed to understand the emerging pattern?
Indra Nooyi, Vikram Pandit, Rajat Gupta or any Indian student in Australia, Canada, US or New Zealand have something very common. All these as students went to Western world in search of a dream, an American Dream, a British dream or an Australian dream. All these people have endured extreme hardships in their lives since landing in the western world - to reach the pinnacle.
World did change a lot from 1960's or 1970's to today. The flow of Indian students to the western world is not a new phenomenon. While the students prior to 1960's have endured extreme and sometimes adverse immigration rules to work through their world, the students today have no such barriers.
Now a days, all the countries in the world throw a red carpet to the Indian students. As a result, the number of students going abroad increased significantly. As the number grew, we have now started seeing the kind of episodes as in Australia and to a lesser extent in other countries.
Today, as we see in India - Education is a big global business. As the population is dwindling in the western world, the universities are struggling sustain, to keep their growth and remain competitive. Secondly, we now have a fundamental question in the western students - does the University education worth an investment? Today most of the global entrepreneurs are University dropouts - some from Ivy leagues. For example, Great Britain numerically got more universities than required to meet the domestic demand. This is a gap, that must be filled. On the broader perspective to run a part of the wider economy in the Western world. As a result we see attractive Visa policies and mushroomed "paid brokers" in India & their mis-selling.
Indian education system changed dramatically in the past two decades. With the globalisation and the outsourcing boom of 1990's - India also expanded Universities, Engineering, Medicine and other professional schools capacity. Consequently, for example - in Andhra Pradesh we have in excess of 600 Engineering colleges (in 1985 there were just 7) and close to 50 medical colleges. I think we have close to 25 Universities - i.e one per each district. This education boom also created greed. The expectation was that - India would become a global powerhouse for the Technology services. Yes, to some extent - India emerged a global power. But the rate with which the students are coming out for the Universities, they all cannot be absorbed in the domestic job market (even if there were no recession)
Having spent significant money on the education, neither parents nor students are willing to compromise for anything less than a "dream job". Most of the students have developed "ego" instead of "right qualification and skills" due to lack of faculty, infrastructure and environment. Now that we have surplus graduates in the system - these students are not willing to go for the marginalised and low paid job (the very theme of Indian Outsourcing). With India Outsources already looking for Latin America or Eastern Europe, students have no option but to look for something else, the is more attractive and satisfy their ego.
It is here they have spotted the so called "gap" in the Western Universities. And Western Universities a solid source and demand.
Pre-1990, most of the Indian students left to Western world due to lack of opportunities in the homeland. The stagnant Indian economy could not absorb, even the brightest. All these bright people had no option but to look for the greener pastures. Aided with the excellent education, knowledge and intelligence - majority of them went to enrich themselves and utilized the opportunities that have come on the way. Even in the western world, at that time education really did not become a business. Immigration and visa system was stringent and there were no shortcuts available readily with the "brokers" or "on the Internet"and importantly, false promises.
Today for most of the students, Education abroad is basically an investment. Having paid huge sums to brokers, and for the visa - by the time they land in Sydney, London or Chicago, top of their agenda is to earn from day one. Earn as much as they can in the couple of years - by all means. Poor qualifications and "poorly rated" universities and "poor" neighbourhoods - it is all a perfect fit to put the education in the back burner. Most of the students are so sure that they possibly cannot get a foreign degree with their inferior qualifications. But the the exchange ratio with Indian rupee is even a bigger attraction. More the backlogs, longer they can live and much more they can earn.
Already, some of the "brokers" in India would have told them the "means" and "ways" to hang on, or how to acquire a Permanent residency, or even citizenship. Most of these students, end up in ghettos and sometimes with up to 10 people sharing one apartment. By living in ghettos, these students never understand the local culture nor respect the local norms. Most of these students speak poor English and end up living in their mini India's. From here, they will sell false dreams to their parents with iPods and internet chats. The poor parents in India too end up sometimes with false dreams.
By doing all these illegal jobs often working close to 40 hours a week (exceeding the legal limit for a student), these people are in direct confrontation with the low paid citizens of those countries. Already in recession, their frustrations would be going up as India and China are "taking" away their jobs on one side and these students are "robbing" the leftovers in the country.
As I said the main problem is this "false gap" in Universities in West and "demand" coming from India. For this students are not to be blamed. They are basically trapped in the system, a complex web created by Indian and Western Governments. Only remedy is to cut the capacity in both worlds. Improve the quality of education. Remove the "paid brokers" in India who are acting like pimps.
Unless this is fixed - these students not only create problem for themselves but also to the wider Indian diaspora reputation.
Note: I am not concluding all students are in the similar category as discussed in the blog. But, I am confident that the number is fairly high. Also, I am not discounting all attacks are not racist - but, I believe that significant effort is needed from the students to ensure their right identity presented. I am also conscious of the fact that, this blog in analyzing few of the angles but not everything.
Indra Nooyi, Vikram Pandit, Rajat Gupta or any Indian student in Australia, Canada, US or New Zealand have something very common. All these as students went to Western world in search of a dream, an American Dream, a British dream or an Australian dream. All these people have endured extreme hardships in their lives since landing in the western world - to reach the pinnacle.
World did change a lot from 1960's or 1970's to today. The flow of Indian students to the western world is not a new phenomenon. While the students prior to 1960's have endured extreme and sometimes adverse immigration rules to work through their world, the students today have no such barriers.
Now a days, all the countries in the world throw a red carpet to the Indian students. As a result, the number of students going abroad increased significantly. As the number grew, we have now started seeing the kind of episodes as in Australia and to a lesser extent in other countries.
Today, as we see in India - Education is a big global business. As the population is dwindling in the western world, the universities are struggling sustain, to keep their growth and remain competitive. Secondly, we now have a fundamental question in the western students - does the University education worth an investment? Today most of the global entrepreneurs are University dropouts - some from Ivy leagues. For example, Great Britain numerically got more universities than required to meet the domestic demand. This is a gap, that must be filled. On the broader perspective to run a part of the wider economy in the Western world. As a result we see attractive Visa policies and mushroomed "paid brokers" in India & their mis-selling.
Indian education system changed dramatically in the past two decades. With the globalisation and the outsourcing boom of 1990's - India also expanded Universities, Engineering, Medicine and other professional schools capacity. Consequently, for example - in Andhra Pradesh we have in excess of 600 Engineering colleges (in 1985 there were just 7) and close to 50 medical colleges. I think we have close to 25 Universities - i.e one per each district. This education boom also created greed. The expectation was that - India would become a global powerhouse for the Technology services. Yes, to some extent - India emerged a global power. But the rate with which the students are coming out for the Universities, they all cannot be absorbed in the domestic job market (even if there were no recession)
Having spent significant money on the education, neither parents nor students are willing to compromise for anything less than a "dream job". Most of the students have developed "ego" instead of "right qualification and skills" due to lack of faculty, infrastructure and environment. Now that we have surplus graduates in the system - these students are not willing to go for the marginalised and low paid job (the very theme of Indian Outsourcing). With India Outsources already looking for Latin America or Eastern Europe, students have no option but to look for something else, the is more attractive and satisfy their ego.
It is here they have spotted the so called "gap" in the Western Universities. And Western Universities a solid source and demand.
Pre-1990, most of the Indian students left to Western world due to lack of opportunities in the homeland. The stagnant Indian economy could not absorb, even the brightest. All these bright people had no option but to look for the greener pastures. Aided with the excellent education, knowledge and intelligence - majority of them went to enrich themselves and utilized the opportunities that have come on the way. Even in the western world, at that time education really did not become a business. Immigration and visa system was stringent and there were no shortcuts available readily with the "brokers" or "on the Internet"and importantly, false promises.
Today for most of the students, Education abroad is basically an investment. Having paid huge sums to brokers, and for the visa - by the time they land in Sydney, London or Chicago, top of their agenda is to earn from day one. Earn as much as they can in the couple of years - by all means. Poor qualifications and "poorly rated" universities and "poor" neighbourhoods - it is all a perfect fit to put the education in the back burner. Most of the students are so sure that they possibly cannot get a foreign degree with their inferior qualifications. But the the exchange ratio with Indian rupee is even a bigger attraction. More the backlogs, longer they can live and much more they can earn.
Already, some of the "brokers" in India would have told them the "means" and "ways" to hang on, or how to acquire a Permanent residency, or even citizenship. Most of these students, end up in ghettos and sometimes with up to 10 people sharing one apartment. By living in ghettos, these students never understand the local culture nor respect the local norms. Most of these students speak poor English and end up living in their mini India's. From here, they will sell false dreams to their parents with iPods and internet chats. The poor parents in India too end up sometimes with false dreams.
By doing all these illegal jobs often working close to 40 hours a week (exceeding the legal limit for a student), these people are in direct confrontation with the low paid citizens of those countries. Already in recession, their frustrations would be going up as India and China are "taking" away their jobs on one side and these students are "robbing" the leftovers in the country.
As I said the main problem is this "false gap" in Universities in West and "demand" coming from India. For this students are not to be blamed. They are basically trapped in the system, a complex web created by Indian and Western Governments. Only remedy is to cut the capacity in both worlds. Improve the quality of education. Remove the "paid brokers" in India who are acting like pimps.
Unless this is fixed - these students not only create problem for themselves but also to the wider Indian diaspora reputation.
Note: I am not concluding all students are in the similar category as discussed in the blog. But, I am confident that the number is fairly high. Also, I am not discounting all attacks are not racist - but, I believe that significant effort is needed from the students to ensure their right identity presented. I am also conscious of the fact that, this blog in analyzing few of the angles but not everything.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
End Of Satyam Computers
Today, 7th of Jan 2009 - Saytam Computers as an Independent company is Dead, thanks to Byrraju Ramalinga Raju, who lead the story from the cradle to death. Satyam Computers is the 4th largest IT Services Company in India and is considered a showcase for Andhra Pradesh IT development story - and Raju is considered to be a poster boy. Successive state governments have patronised the Satyam Computers to pop up their Technology friendly credentials.
Raju is not a Technical person. His family comes from agriculturally rich coastal Andhra region. They were agriculturists and reality developers. Raju having studied in US, returned to Hyderabad in late 1980's and started Satyam Computers. From a modest beginning, this company grown into reckoning - listed in NASDAQ, won many awards for corporate governance, and until few months considered a darling for both investors and job seekers.
What Raju admitted today is a serious corporate crime. He "managed" and manipulated" balance sheets to show fictitious Rs 5000 crores (Rs 500 billion) as available cash. Actually Satyam computers is not cash rich but, cash starved company. On his own admission, Raju was running from pillar to post - to fill this gigantic gap with some real assets.
As a last ditch effort, when Raju tried to buy Maytas (his family companies) with non existing cash - slowly the problem started unfolding. Unable to bear the pressure, having realised that "I am riding on a tiger without knowing I getting eaten away soon" - Raju came out in open.
Raju admitted the fraud and owned full responsibility. But, how a fraud to such an extent running over several years gone unnoticed without hint or knowledge of others with in the company is questionable. Apart from auditors, there are many who knew and joined hands with Raju (if this not the case Maytas board approval would not have happened).
There are two issues here as well - artificial profits (number manipulation) and siphoning of the real cash. What happened to all that cash?
Now, Satyam announced Ram Mynampati as interim CEO and formed core group to investigate what went wrong. Ram was part of the system and the core team was there in the company for a long time and their honesty is always in question. At best, they will erase the evidence. If the board is wise, and keen to keep shareholders interest, it is imminent that all these people who are asked to run the interim show are kicked out from the company soon.
Satyam is a private company and the decisions are for the shareholders. At the same time, Government of India and the regulatory bodies have failed again. This is not the first case nor this will be the last case of this nature where authorities will try to wash up the facts, to erase from the public memory.
But the damage that it would cause to India Inc will be severe and more companies will come under scrutiny in the coming days, weeks and months.
Is India Shining Story coming under big cloud!
Raju is not a Technical person. His family comes from agriculturally rich coastal Andhra region. They were agriculturists and reality developers. Raju having studied in US, returned to Hyderabad in late 1980's and started Satyam Computers. From a modest beginning, this company grown into reckoning - listed in NASDAQ, won many awards for corporate governance, and until few months considered a darling for both investors and job seekers.
What Raju admitted today is a serious corporate crime. He "managed" and manipulated" balance sheets to show fictitious Rs 5000 crores (Rs 500 billion) as available cash. Actually Satyam computers is not cash rich but, cash starved company. On his own admission, Raju was running from pillar to post - to fill this gigantic gap with some real assets.
As a last ditch effort, when Raju tried to buy Maytas (his family companies) with non existing cash - slowly the problem started unfolding. Unable to bear the pressure, having realised that "I am riding on a tiger without knowing I getting eaten away soon" - Raju came out in open.
Raju admitted the fraud and owned full responsibility. But, how a fraud to such an extent running over several years gone unnoticed without hint or knowledge of others with in the company is questionable. Apart from auditors, there are many who knew and joined hands with Raju (if this not the case Maytas board approval would not have happened).
There are two issues here as well - artificial profits (number manipulation) and siphoning of the real cash. What happened to all that cash?
Now, Satyam announced Ram Mynampati as interim CEO and formed core group to investigate what went wrong. Ram was part of the system and the core team was there in the company for a long time and their honesty is always in question. At best, they will erase the evidence. If the board is wise, and keen to keep shareholders interest, it is imminent that all these people who are asked to run the interim show are kicked out from the company soon.
Satyam is a private company and the decisions are for the shareholders. At the same time, Government of India and the regulatory bodies have failed again. This is not the first case nor this will be the last case of this nature where authorities will try to wash up the facts, to erase from the public memory.
But the damage that it would cause to India Inc will be severe and more companies will come under scrutiny in the coming days, weeks and months.
Is India Shining Story coming under big cloud!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Ramalinga Raju, Satyam Computers and Rest
In good times, no long ago Indian IT companies are icons for business ethics and good governance. N R Narayana Murthy, Azim Premzi, S Ramdorai, Ramaliga Raju are household names. They are role models for budding entrepreneurs, college students, street smart investors, college professors, car drivers, canteen workers or in a nutshell- from Dalal street to main street. Each one of them have seen something with in these icons to get instant motivation and think positively about their own future. When Narayana Muthy or someone at Infosys quoted "my (NRN's) car driver is worth a crore in stock options", it was not a joke at at all.
All the Indian IT companies have grown rapidly. The growth was so strong and convincing that - at one time, for most Indians there was nothing beyond Information Technology.
Beneath this hype, there was lot criticism against these companies. To name one, Dave Gowda questioned Infosys acquisition of huge lands around Bangalore for throwaway prices in the name of job creation and the using them as in house hotels or guest houses. He even went to the extent of criticizing that the children of the displaced farmers ended up in local Bangalore hotels as cleaners - not getting even two meals a day. Very few backed Dave Gowda, the maverick Kannada politician. But what he said cannot be denied. NRN was hurt, and then he decided to locate future "growth" out side Karnataka. Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal laid red carpet and rest was a different story. Infosys got huge land bank - probably on par with a large real estate company. It will be put to use - in some way or other in coming years.
Information Technology and BPO sectors would not be same again even if US and Europe recovers from the severe downturn. India is going to face huge challenge from other countries in this area. There was two options for Indian IT companies - either to face the challenge or diversify.
Ramalinga Raju did the second. He found diversification into real estate and infrastructure is good for Satyam in long run. He was correct. With IT growth slowing - as a natural businessman, he spotted next gold mine. But the selection and execution did not go well on par with reputation and image of Raju.
Diversification for companies to sustain growth is not new. For example - Tata in India, Siemens and Germany and GE in US are highly diversified companies.
This incident clearly tells us couple of things. IT companies are not in a position to show 30% + YoY growth. Secondly, the promoters of these companies (except in case of Wipro) have off loaded most of the initial investments and looking aroud for the next big thing.
Now for all those budding entrepreneurs, college students, street smart investors, college professors, car drivers, canteen workers - blind following of their role models would put them on wrong foot.
It is wake up call for all!
All the Indian IT companies have grown rapidly. The growth was so strong and convincing that - at one time, for most Indians there was nothing beyond Information Technology.
Beneath this hype, there was lot criticism against these companies. To name one, Dave Gowda questioned Infosys acquisition of huge lands around Bangalore for throwaway prices in the name of job creation and the using them as in house hotels or guest houses. He even went to the extent of criticizing that the children of the displaced farmers ended up in local Bangalore hotels as cleaners - not getting even two meals a day. Very few backed Dave Gowda, the maverick Kannada politician. But what he said cannot be denied. NRN was hurt, and then he decided to locate future "growth" out side Karnataka. Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal laid red carpet and rest was a different story. Infosys got huge land bank - probably on par with a large real estate company. It will be put to use - in some way or other in coming years.
Information Technology and BPO sectors would not be same again even if US and Europe recovers from the severe downturn. India is going to face huge challenge from other countries in this area. There was two options for Indian IT companies - either to face the challenge or diversify.
Ramalinga Raju did the second. He found diversification into real estate and infrastructure is good for Satyam in long run. He was correct. With IT growth slowing - as a natural businessman, he spotted next gold mine. But the selection and execution did not go well on par with reputation and image of Raju.
Diversification for companies to sustain growth is not new. For example - Tata in India, Siemens and Germany and GE in US are highly diversified companies.
This incident clearly tells us couple of things. IT companies are not in a position to show 30% + YoY growth. Secondly, the promoters of these companies (except in case of Wipro) have off loaded most of the initial investments and looking aroud for the next big thing.
Now for all those budding entrepreneurs, college students, street smart investors, college professors, car drivers, canteen workers - blind following of their role models would put them on wrong foot.
It is wake up call for all!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Skill shortage list for Great Britain
GB, one of the most sought of destination for Indian Techies has published their top skill shortage list. Unfortunately, for Engineering and IT careers, it is not in list. Top of the list are Belle Dancers, Maths Teachers, Geologists and so on. The second level includes - Expert Brick layers and Plasterers.
During the past decade host of Indian Techies made GB as their home. With long and deep recession at the door steps, GB obviously does not need any of the Engineering Techies in their country. Layoffs raising day after the day. Even the most recession proof Technology companies like BT and Vodaphone are looking job cuts as serious option.
Rest of the Europe is no more in better shape. Germany the economic powerhouse of Europe is struggling with the economic crisis.
Less said about the US is better. The crisis started taking toll on the people who considered themselves settled in US for last decade or more. In fact, the news is that many of the Techies are planning to return home and serve their mother country.
The situation in India is slowly but surely getting into trouble.
The Engineering graduates in AP are still giving a try (through Consultants) to go to west for pursuing further education and possibly for Green Card settlement. If they have got money, it is good time to keep it safely than venturing into this recession hit world.
If the skill shortage list is any indication, may be careers outsite Technology are looking better option.
It is not time to dream beyond means and become more realistic.
During the past decade host of Indian Techies made GB as their home. With long and deep recession at the door steps, GB obviously does not need any of the Engineering Techies in their country. Layoffs raising day after the day. Even the most recession proof Technology companies like BT and Vodaphone are looking job cuts as serious option.
Rest of the Europe is no more in better shape. Germany the economic powerhouse of Europe is struggling with the economic crisis.
Less said about the US is better. The crisis started taking toll on the people who considered themselves settled in US for last decade or more. In fact, the news is that many of the Techies are planning to return home and serve their mother country.
The situation in India is slowly but surely getting into trouble.
The Engineering graduates in AP are still giving a try (through Consultants) to go to west for pursuing further education and possibly for Green Card settlement. If they have got money, it is good time to keep it safely than venturing into this recession hit world.
If the skill shortage list is any indication, may be careers outsite Technology are looking better option.
It is not time to dream beyond means and become more realistic.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Future in Engineering and Technology Careers
In India, and specially in South India Engineering is a career of automatic choice. Even before deciding the name of the child, parents would decide their child career in Engineering. Until mid 1980's there is tremendous competition to get into a Engineering college. For example, in Andhra Pradesh there were not more than 10 Engineering colleges - for entire coastal Andhra pradesh - there were two colleges - one at Visakhapatnam and other in Kakinada (the oldest in the state). The success of the students later, in their careers both in India and abroad, naturally made Engineering an elite course. By early 1980's - the competition to join Engineering started heating up. As a result, the Governments have started state entrance exams (now called EMCET). Due to limited Engineering seats, competition to get into any of the Government Engineering college was too high (like getting into IIT today) and naturally the brightest were successful.
As the craze for Engineering courses picked up Government at that time seen an opportunity to expand the reach of Engineering education and allowed private parities to start the colleges. By 1990's, what was then called vision of the Chandrababu Naidu Government, permissions have been granted so freely, what may be called liberalization of Engineering Education in Andhra Pradesh, we have now close to 500 colleges in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Similar trend was followed in other states - mainly Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharastra.
Today if we take Andhra Pradesh, the only surplus we have is Engineering graduates. During boom years, it was not difficult for many to get into some jobs - mainly in the Information Technology. Also, Engineering degree is a good ticket (for visa) to go to United States, UK or Australia for further studies. In 2001 when there was a dot com bubble, many had a second thought of Engineering. But subsequent BPO and outsourcing boom, brought back a blind confidence like as we have seen the Bombay Stock exchange.
It may be pertinent to note here that trade bodies like NASSCOM and many Companies like Infosys, Satyam, TCS or Wipro have started estimating that the supply is not meeting demand. They started demanding the Government for actions. This is fundamentally flawed because - in long run they are expecting that there won't be any Technology jobs in West.
Net result is, we have surplus and there is no demand. Even students from the elite IIT's are not getting the jobs. It is only a matter of time the fate of the students who are coming out of the mushroomed colleges will known. Companies and NASSCOM that demanded action from the Government are now quite. They have no obligation or commitment to take any of these students including the brightest. Private Engineering colleges meanwhile made a fortune and found ways to suck the students with exorbitant fees.
What we have to understand Engieering career is not like consumption element. Like we produce a tooth paste or soup and consume daily or weekly basis, the graduates cannot be consumed with in the economy for ever. An Engineer who comes out will stay in the system for at least 40 years. If same level of throughput is maintained, it will lead to to down stream choking as we are seeing now.
With cost of education going up high (excluding the money what they have already paid for the coaching centres), opportunities dwindling quickly - the future of Engineering and Technology careers are in big question. Recently during the Realty boom we have seen huge demand for Civil Engineers and now, that is slowly evaporated. Same will happen in Automotive. As long as supply outstrips demand by many times, the future is bleak
This surplus will have huge consequences - and eventually benefit private sector companies.
Some of the consequences are:
1. With cheap labour availability in surplus, wage inflation at entry level will fall dramatically. This will make students in pipeline to join the engineering to think twice.
2. With in the companies, this will spread to the middle and senior levels slowly as Companies can find people who cost them less will be able to do the same job.
3. Job insecurity will increase - and the Engineers will never be in negotiating terms
4. Many engineering colleges will close
5. Jobless rate will go up in a sector where until a year ago students could book a job in at final years beginning
6. Quality of Engineering education fallen dramatically.
7. These students who are flooding out of the gates are carrying added ego and now planning to go to US, UK or Australia to waste even more hard earned money. Or eventually end up in curry houses or supermarkets to do odd jobs in London, Sydney or Dallas.
Unless Government does some kind of quality evaluation and close 75% of these colleges and improve the quality education.
Else future is bleak - including those coming from IITs. Any recovery is in the hands of Government and regulating bodies.
As the craze for Engineering courses picked up Government at that time seen an opportunity to expand the reach of Engineering education and allowed private parities to start the colleges. By 1990's, what was then called vision of the Chandrababu Naidu Government, permissions have been granted so freely, what may be called liberalization of Engineering Education in Andhra Pradesh, we have now close to 500 colleges in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Similar trend was followed in other states - mainly Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharastra.
Today if we take Andhra Pradesh, the only surplus we have is Engineering graduates. During boom years, it was not difficult for many to get into some jobs - mainly in the Information Technology. Also, Engineering degree is a good ticket (for visa) to go to United States, UK or Australia for further studies. In 2001 when there was a dot com bubble, many had a second thought of Engineering. But subsequent BPO and outsourcing boom, brought back a blind confidence like as we have seen the Bombay Stock exchange.
It may be pertinent to note here that trade bodies like NASSCOM and many Companies like Infosys, Satyam, TCS or Wipro have started estimating that the supply is not meeting demand. They started demanding the Government for actions. This is fundamentally flawed because - in long run they are expecting that there won't be any Technology jobs in West.
Net result is, we have surplus and there is no demand. Even students from the elite IIT's are not getting the jobs. It is only a matter of time the fate of the students who are coming out of the mushroomed colleges will known. Companies and NASSCOM that demanded action from the Government are now quite. They have no obligation or commitment to take any of these students including the brightest. Private Engineering colleges meanwhile made a fortune and found ways to suck the students with exorbitant fees.
What we have to understand Engieering career is not like consumption element. Like we produce a tooth paste or soup and consume daily or weekly basis, the graduates cannot be consumed with in the economy for ever. An Engineer who comes out will stay in the system for at least 40 years. If same level of throughput is maintained, it will lead to to down stream choking as we are seeing now.
With cost of education going up high (excluding the money what they have already paid for the coaching centres), opportunities dwindling quickly - the future of Engineering and Technology careers are in big question. Recently during the Realty boom we have seen huge demand for Civil Engineers and now, that is slowly evaporated. Same will happen in Automotive. As long as supply outstrips demand by many times, the future is bleak
This surplus will have huge consequences - and eventually benefit private sector companies.
Some of the consequences are:
1. With cheap labour availability in surplus, wage inflation at entry level will fall dramatically. This will make students in pipeline to join the engineering to think twice.
2. With in the companies, this will spread to the middle and senior levels slowly as Companies can find people who cost them less will be able to do the same job.
3. Job insecurity will increase - and the Engineers will never be in negotiating terms
4. Many engineering colleges will close
5. Jobless rate will go up in a sector where until a year ago students could book a job in at final years beginning
6. Quality of Engineering education fallen dramatically.
7. These students who are flooding out of the gates are carrying added ego and now planning to go to US, UK or Australia to waste even more hard earned money. Or eventually end up in curry houses or supermarkets to do odd jobs in London, Sydney or Dallas.
Unless Government does some kind of quality evaluation and close 75% of these colleges and improve the quality education.
Else future is bleak - including those coming from IITs. Any recovery is in the hands of Government and regulating bodies.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
H1B - The US Dilemma
H1B - is still, the greatest source of inspiration for the Indian Engineering graduates. The inspiration comes from two sources. First, it is from their parents and families. In India, specially in the states like Andhra - an Engineer is considered lost his / her career, if they do not get the H1B stamp on their passports. There are many movies, jokes, stories about the H1B and the mental and physical struggle those budding Engineers undergo in their life. Second source of inspiration comes from the success stories and wealth the previous H1B Engineers created and benchmarked. "Dollar Dreams" as it is called, is one of the greatest journeys in any ambitious Engineers life.
H1B category when it was initiated by US government, the numbers fighting a slice were relatively small. First there were few Engineering Colleges in the state. The IT industry was nascent. The so called Body Shopping companies that sponsored Engineers are located in US and the process was painful due to slow communications.
H1B suited every one's interest. Initially, it was win win situation. The best of those H1B Engineers naturally were fit in the American dream and they got their Green Cards and settled for good. Those who could not fit in the structure or lacked intention to settle in US, returned at the end of the H1B term. The important aspect of the H1B processing was body shopping - that is a, third party company sponsors the Engineers and places them in the big American MNC's. Most of the 1980's and and until mid-1990's the pattern was on the similar lines.
By mid-1990's, major changes were happening. Engineering graduates from India were multiplied by many fold. The IT industry became THE big industry. Slowly Indian Companies started working in US and as a result, the Body Shoppers were driven out from the lucrative broker business.
Today, India is seen as net gainer and US looks like loosing in H1B and other related visa like L categories. Since it is Indian IT majors corner major chunk (may be in excess of 95%) of visas - they have become very influential. This is because - how they use the visa's matters to everyone concerned. Since these visas are limited, both US and Indian companies started Outsourcing the jobs to India. US companies cunning plan is to kill the Indian companies in their own back yard. For Indian Companies the hassle and pain of US visas process will be alleviated to a great extend and also makes business sense, since the profit margins are lot better.
US senators are worried that Indian companies are misusing the visa and the Engineers are not paid on the same terms as their US counterparts. This may not be a fact in most of the cases - but there could be isolated cases. No Indian company can take risk with US Government where the evidence can be gathered very easily. If the evidence was present, US Government would have acted long back. The other allegation that Qualified US born Engineers are displaced by Indians might be true. But, US must remember that they built their empire on fair and open competition!
The main dilemma for US today is - what to do with these visa categories. US is steadily loosing Technical superiority to both India and China. In fact, the US Technical supremacy has been build by the immigrants - from Europe and Asia. They need the Technically qualified people. At the same time, they cannot risk loosing the jobs to India or China. From the India Engineers point of view - two diverse scenarios are seen. India is shining and opportunities are lot better. From personal opportunities, quality of life point still US better. Next couple of years would decisive. If things gravitate further in India's favor, then US may struggle to find that there are no takers for their immigrant visa. The demand may be there still from Indian Companies - but, that is not going to add anything to the net inward immigration.
To get back to the the win win proposition, time has come for US law makers to comprehensively amend the laws so that the immigration and Visa would benefit their country. The intelligent people have the better opportunities and their dependence on their Indian sponsers is very much limited or taken off from the loop.
Otherwise, the situation may come that India and China can live without US, but US cannot live without them.
Time has come for a change
H1B category when it was initiated by US government, the numbers fighting a slice were relatively small. First there were few Engineering Colleges in the state. The IT industry was nascent. The so called Body Shopping companies that sponsored Engineers are located in US and the process was painful due to slow communications.
H1B suited every one's interest. Initially, it was win win situation. The best of those H1B Engineers naturally were fit in the American dream and they got their Green Cards and settled for good. Those who could not fit in the structure or lacked intention to settle in US, returned at the end of the H1B term. The important aspect of the H1B processing was body shopping - that is a, third party company sponsors the Engineers and places them in the big American MNC's. Most of the 1980's and and until mid-1990's the pattern was on the similar lines.
By mid-1990's, major changes were happening. Engineering graduates from India were multiplied by many fold. The IT industry became THE big industry. Slowly Indian Companies started working in US and as a result, the Body Shoppers were driven out from the lucrative broker business.
Today, India is seen as net gainer and US looks like loosing in H1B and other related visa like L categories. Since it is Indian IT majors corner major chunk (may be in excess of 95%) of visas - they have become very influential. This is because - how they use the visa's matters to everyone concerned. Since these visas are limited, both US and Indian companies started Outsourcing the jobs to India. US companies cunning plan is to kill the Indian companies in their own back yard. For Indian Companies the hassle and pain of US visas process will be alleviated to a great extend and also makes business sense, since the profit margins are lot better.
US senators are worried that Indian companies are misusing the visa and the Engineers are not paid on the same terms as their US counterparts. This may not be a fact in most of the cases - but there could be isolated cases. No Indian company can take risk with US Government where the evidence can be gathered very easily. If the evidence was present, US Government would have acted long back. The other allegation that Qualified US born Engineers are displaced by Indians might be true. But, US must remember that they built their empire on fair and open competition!
The main dilemma for US today is - what to do with these visa categories. US is steadily loosing Technical superiority to both India and China. In fact, the US Technical supremacy has been build by the immigrants - from Europe and Asia. They need the Technically qualified people. At the same time, they cannot risk loosing the jobs to India or China. From the India Engineers point of view - two diverse scenarios are seen. India is shining and opportunities are lot better. From personal opportunities, quality of life point still US better. Next couple of years would decisive. If things gravitate further in India's favor, then US may struggle to find that there are no takers for their immigrant visa. The demand may be there still from Indian Companies - but, that is not going to add anything to the net inward immigration.
To get back to the the win win proposition, time has come for US law makers to comprehensively amend the laws so that the immigration and Visa would benefit their country. The intelligent people have the better opportunities and their dependence on their Indian sponsers is very much limited or taken off from the loop.
Otherwise, the situation may come that India and China can live without US, but US cannot live without them.
Time has come for a change
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