God created this world in a certain way, for people to coexist with the nature and its natural surroundings. Since mankind has evolved, we see this great surge in development – which has of course its good and bad role to play. One of the bad outcomes of this relentless pursuit of growth has been the various kinds/types of pressures that people/mankind face today and these seem to be on an ever increasing pace or spurt. This is of course bad news. One of the key bad outcomes is people resorting to suicides as an escape mechanism to their day to day pressures.
Suicide is a phenomenon which requires urgent attention. The number of people resorting to suicides earlier were seeing a gradual increase but was still under a permissible control level. But of late the spurt of people resorting to suicides has increased many folds at a very short period of time. This event has lead to a lot of negative connotations and the aftereffects have been very bad not only to the present generations but the future generations.
Suicide is considered as a cowardice way of confronting a situation, but is it really cowardice? Harming oneself may sound as an easy alternative but it is not all that easy to harm yourself. The pain through which a person goes because of which he/she decides to take this step needs to be understood. People resort to suicidal tendencies when they start feeling “the point of no return”. Now, this sets a very dangerous precedence to a host of events leading to a person resorting to the extreme step of suicide. Does the person think the aftereffects of this drastic step? Is it good? No, never. Suicide almost always has a bad impact to its surroundings.
Let us assume a normal human being resorting to suicide because he/she could not qualify an exam which would have been so crucial for his/her life. But, what better happened by the person resorting to a decision to end the life before it was supposed to end? Would anyone gain by this person taking the extreme step of suicide? The answer would be – Nothing. Infact it has got far reaching aftereffects like being proclaimed as outcast by the society. The family would have to face humiliation – where the other individuals in the family could be proclaimed or forecast to have suicidal tendencies. The person should instead be more motivated and dedicated towards achieving the given objective – to pass the exam and that too very comfortably and come out as a very successful individual. Thus being an example of positive synergy to the society or to the people of immediate influence around. This should be the way out rather than suicide.
Why do people commit suicide? - People resort to suicidal scenarios due to various typical/sometime very personal reasons (listed below) –
Why is it that suicide seems to be the best answer? True reason is the inability to face defeat. Defeat in any way can lead to depression. People are depressed and can't find the motivation to go great distances. Some people want revenge on society, group or person, and want to use their suicide as a means of achieving this. These are those souls who could not achieve the goals for which they set out for and find it difficult to face/communicate (defeat) to the society. They are not prepared to accept defeat and as they are (were) so convinced of being victorious. Life is something which is so unique in many ways of its own. Life can be so unpredictable, sometimes being very lucky/good for people and sometimes just a horror. The most common reason for people resorting to suicides are for people, who are disgusted with life and want a way out that isn't too agonizing, likely to fail or chaotic. People are so used to the fast paced life and have no mercy for a languishing soul. This leads to a lot of chaos and uncertainty and just people feel there is no need/purpose for what they are living and lose interest, giving in to suicide. People also sometimes for strange reasons want to die for any motive and are afraid of being discovered, seen as a coward, or judged as evil by those one loves. Those who is sick and dying anyway and want an easy way out that doesn't involve a lot of mobility. People also resort to suicide as they sometime want to go out in a rage of glory, making a strong statement against all one's enemies. There are also types of people to get/grab media attention or attain cult figure status resort to suicide as a step. Thus challenging the boundaries of human thought process.
All these people sampled above are those who are not willing (ready) to face the hard facts about the day to day difficulties of life. Human Beings need to take things one at a time and be positive about their personal life and surroundings. This is one of the easy ways to cope suicidal tendencies. It is easier said than done but believe it or not it happens. One needs to take things as it comes (one needs to take things in its stride) and be brave to face the end result; come what may.
Conclusion:
Suicide is an act of weakness and a human being at least deserve to die a normal death unless an unnatural death is not an act of his/her own doing. Suicide would/should never be promoted in a society and needs to be dealt with firmly. People should be highlighted the aftereffects of a suicide and coached to get out of such mentality.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Real Estate Outlook in India/Hyderabad/Shamshabad
According to a statistic India churns out 350000 engineers (one third of the entire world estimated to produce 1 million annually), 70000 MBA’s and close to a million graduates every year. Five states -- Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Kerala -- account for 31 percent of India's population, but 69 percent of India's engineers. India boasts of 306 universities and 15000 colleges. Many people bet on India’s generation young as we are the only nation with a huge segment of the total population between the age group of 20 – 35 years. India is young and India is booming, firing positive outlooks for almost all the industries/sectors, ushering in an impressive middle class segment with a lot of buying clout. The Indian economy is showing signs of 9% GDP growth to be sustainable in the next decade or so, which is a result of growth across sectors like IT, BPO, manufacturing, pharma. This in turn results in more real estate activity thus ensuring this spurt in real estate activity to be more fundamental by nature than purely being speculative. We are already talking about IT exports touching $60 billion dollars by 2010. Software exports stood at around $24 billion in 2006(Nasscom). The $60 billion target represents a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.3 %. Similarly the Indian BPO segment contributed $6.5 billion to the total software and services exports and this is to cross $ 8 billion in 2007. Another area of great activity is Indian tourism industry, which has the potential to grow further by 50-100 percent annually. The country’s economic boom and growing emergence as an important world entity in various business activities are set to positively impact the very bad infrastructure that we currently account ourselves with. The new liberalized laws in Indian real estate sector are set to bring in more foreign Direct Investments (FDI). As the infrastructure in most parts of India is ageing and very poor, India is in dire need of upgrading a broad section of its infrastructure. An estimated investment of $35billion is required for road development, $55billion for installing new telecommunication networks, and $8billion for ports modernization over the next 8 to 12 years.
The Indian government’s encouraging policies, which include the liberalization of foreign exchange controls, tax benefits for first time homebuyers, more conducive lending rates and reforms in the real estate industry, have contributed substantially to the growth of the real estate sector in recent times. According to the industry experts the real estate growth is going to play a big part in the overall service sector growth in Indian economy. Real estate investments were very limited, representing only 2% of the total GDP in 1995, compared to 4.8% of GDP for the Chinese real estate market. Real estate investments have been steadily rising since, and were 2.7% of GDP (2004 figures) in India as compared to 6.5% in China. A.T. Kearney's analysis of the Indian real estate market using the 'global industry curve' indicates that this ratio for India can potentially go to 4.2% in 2010, at a compounded annual growth rate of 14.3%. The latest FDI figures for 2006 talk about $2.5 billion investments in Indian real estates out of the total FDI receipt of $ 8 billion, roughly translating to around 27 % share of FDI in real estate for 2006 alone. According to a 2005 survey by Merrill Lynch, organized retail, which accounts for just two per cent of the $200 billion sector, will grow from $4 billion to $15 billion by 2010. Real estate sector in the same time frame is expected to grow from $12 billion to $50 billion.
To promote FDI in the real estate sector, the government had last year allowed 100% FDI in the property and construction sector. Previously, any foreign investor wanting to buy real estate must get the approval of the Reserve Bank of India. The site involved must be more than 50,000 sq ft, and it must be a new construction. Coupled with the opening up of real estate funds to foreigners, this would result in more professional players, bigger projects and more transparency in the industry. Foreign investors can now invest in commercial real estate development projects that have a minimum built up area of 50,000 sq m while the minimum area threshold for FDI in integrated townships has been reduced to 25 acres from 100 acres previously. Wholly-owned FDI projects must have a minimum equity investment of $10 million while for joint ventures it is $5 million. In today’s real estate market in India the biggest challenge is to have a good land Bank and sufficient capital for funding the projects. Given that land banks in metros are fast diminishing, satellite townships are emerging. The Indian reality sector has shown some basic changes like the companies going public to raise funds, corporatization, and from being project and location specific to expansion to other geographies. This has helped the customers, as they find the real estate firms to be more transparent and committed to the project execution.
Hyderabad
Andhra Pradesh, one of the bigger states in India has a huge pool of highly qualified manpower with 29 universities producing 55,000 engineers, 110 polytechnics and 563 industrial training institutes turning out thousands more skilled workers every year. Andhra Pradesh is well connected to major Indian cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. Andhra state is home to various emerging industries like bulk drugs/pharmaceuticals, horticulture, poultry farming, spices mines/minerals, textiles/apparels and now IT. Emerging cities like Hyderabad (capitol to Andhra state) are drastically changing the face of urban India coupled with economic liberalization; such cities are engines of economic growth. Hyderabad is known for its rich history, culture and architecture representing its unique characteristic of a meeting point for North and South India, and its multi-lingual culture, both geographically and culturally. Hence, Hyderabad is considered to be the gateway of southern India. Hyderabad has also been referred to as the second silicon valley of India next to bangalore. With a population of approximately 6.5 million (65 lakh), it is India’s 5th largest metropolis and the 41st largest metropolitan area in the world. Hyderabad has a cosmopolitan culture and a very affordable living standard compared to other competitors like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. Hyderabad actually involves twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and also has many upcoming satellite townships like Shamshabad (the location for the new airport), Gachibowli, and Uppal etc. Hyderabad is the emerging IT /Biotechnology hub of India and has a very strong background in entertainment industry. Hyderabad has initiated a whole host of investment friendly initiatives from the governments of the past and present for almost a decade now, including a mix of public, private and private-public participation. Some of these are the ambitious Shamshabad international airport, the longest flyover in India, the IT hubs in Hi tech city, Gachibowli, Uppal, Shamirpet, the genome valley Biotechnology hub, Semiconductor Park and the Outer Ring Road (ORR) project. Like many Indian cities, Hyderabad has witnessed a remarkable growth in the real estate business, thanks to a predominantly information technology-driven boom in the 1990s and the retail industry growth over the last few years which have spurred hectic commercial activity. A number of retail malls have come up or are being built in the city. According to the latest estimates the IT exports from Hyderabad alone for the year 2005-06 is to surpass Rs. 12500 crores ($ 2.5 billion). The investment friendly government has also ensured extensive investments in the digital infrastructure within the city promoting the setting up of various educational campuses by a vast array of firms. Some of the very notable educational investments in pipeline being – Vedanta university, Birla campus, many prestigeous US universities etc.The city hosts two Central Universities, two Deemed Universities, and six State Universities.
Shamshabad – the future outlook
Shamshabad, located on the southern outskirts of Hyderabad is home to the state of the art airport project underway with active private public participation to meet the growing demands of the city. Currently the biggest project in Hyderabad, once completed the airport widely tipped to be among the best in Asia having world class facilities is expected to cater a total of around 7 million passengers per year in the intial phase and finally upto 50 million passengers per year. The project is well on course to complete its first phase in March 2008.This multi million dollar project is being built in an area of around 5,500 acres of land and will have the longest runway among Indian airports.Teh new airp[ort project also envisages plenty of real estate development within the airport like hotels, convention centers, shopping malls/entertainment complexes and Free Trade Zones etc. There is laso going to be a lot of business activity with regards to the adjacent Air Cargo comples and an MRO(Maintenance Repair and Overhaul facility) near or inside the airport. Hence, Shamshabad is witnessing many related investments in the area of hospitality, education, IT, ITES, Biotech parks, business parks, Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and housing coming up in and around the new International Airport. The Fabcity investment alone is around $3 billion and promises to generate an emplyment of around 1.5 million people by 2015 (both direct and indirect). The Fabcity project spanning over 1500 acres of land, being developed by a consortium of firms including both AMD and Intel, will open up a new business avenue of high end chip designing/testing and manufacturing, currently manufactured in few countries only. This is an extremly important project for India as it takes the Indian economy into the next level of the business learning curve. The second phase work on Fabcity project is set to commence from April 2007. Government of Andhra Pradesh has allotted close to 5000 acres of land for Software and Hardware park near Shamshabad ensuring a slew of MNC investments into these parks..
Other Related Investments in Shamshabad
The Mucherla IT park, located around 14 kms from the new airport has 850 acres of land, where 20 acres have been allotted to dell.Infosys is setting up a 550 acre campus, the biggest software facility in India, work foir which is supposed to begin soon sometime in 2007.
Amusement Park - Asia's biggest Amusement park being developed close to Shamshabad airport is to attract thousands of tourists everyday.
Apparel Park – Spread over 176 Acres of prime Industrial land complete with banks, post offices, exhibition halls and shopping complexes is a conglomeration of several garment making units. Dubai Garments companies such as Vetco, Atraco and Cristal Garments located in Jabel Ali Free Zone have already decided to shift their operations to Apparel Park.
Videocon Project – Videocon International, the country’s largest Consumer electronics manufacturer plans to pump Rs. 500 Crores into its state of the art manufacturing facility in the next 3-4 years.
Astra Micro Wave Products Ltd – Engaged in the manufacture of Communication related products including radar subsystems for defence and telecommunication sectors has embarked on a plan to set up its third plant near research centre Imarat.
International University - 100 Acres allotted for the International University in Hyderabad will provide quality education for International scholars. The International University is sure to attract nearly 10,000 international scholars every year.
AP Housing Board Township – Proposed 125 Acres township with Malaysian collaboration. In addition HUDA (hyderabad urban development authority) plans to auction a mega venture of 350 acres and develop a 600 Acres Township at Maheshwaram Mandal.
Catalytic Software Systems Company - Seattle based Catalytic Software Inc.
is all set to establish their development facility at Kancha Imarat The proposed software development centre-cum-township will provide employment to around 4000 IT professionals and have over 4000 houses for employees’ residential accommodation.
Nova Park – 3000 Acres of land has been allotted near the hardware park for the proposed NOVA Park.
According to real estate experts once the adjacent ORR (Outer ring road) project is completed the existing prices in and around Shamshabad like Kothur; Mansanpally could go up by another 20-25 percent. The ORR project is a six lane express way encircling Hyderabad city and runs very close to the Shamshabad Airport. The dedicated airport rail link between Begumpet and Shamshabad will bring down the travel time from the city center to Shamshabad by more than 50 % and will also provide connectivity to the other big projects in and around Shamshabad airport. There have been various pending proposals for more real estate activity in and around Shamshabad. The rail link modeled on the lines of the rail corridor in Hong Kong and London could bring down the average travel time from 90 minutes to 22 minutes. Andhra Pradesh government has recently sabctioned the Shamshabad Police Station as the biggest police station in Hyderabad with a force of more than 200 personnel and this facility will also be the most modern police station in the state.
MMTS(multi model transit system) Railway Station - The main MMTS Railway Station in Timmapur directly links this zone to the Cargo hold of the International Airport. With a sanction of 230 Crores for the development of Timmapur MMTS Railway Station, work is progressing at a rapid pace. What’s more, the Outer Ring Road coupled with the Express Highway and MMTS Railway connectivity will lead straight to the IT Hub of Gacchibowli and Madhapur. For the area, it will mean a straight access to the future.
Bibliography –
1. Google
2. Wikipedia
3. Indiatimes
4. Rediff
5. the new Hyderabad Airport website
6. AP government websites
The Indian government’s encouraging policies, which include the liberalization of foreign exchange controls, tax benefits for first time homebuyers, more conducive lending rates and reforms in the real estate industry, have contributed substantially to the growth of the real estate sector in recent times. According to the industry experts the real estate growth is going to play a big part in the overall service sector growth in Indian economy. Real estate investments were very limited, representing only 2% of the total GDP in 1995, compared to 4.8% of GDP for the Chinese real estate market. Real estate investments have been steadily rising since, and were 2.7% of GDP (2004 figures) in India as compared to 6.5% in China. A.T. Kearney's analysis of the Indian real estate market using the 'global industry curve' indicates that this ratio for India can potentially go to 4.2% in 2010, at a compounded annual growth rate of 14.3%. The latest FDI figures for 2006 talk about $2.5 billion investments in Indian real estates out of the total FDI receipt of $ 8 billion, roughly translating to around 27 % share of FDI in real estate for 2006 alone. According to a 2005 survey by Merrill Lynch, organized retail, which accounts for just two per cent of the $200 billion sector, will grow from $4 billion to $15 billion by 2010. Real estate sector in the same time frame is expected to grow from $12 billion to $50 billion.
To promote FDI in the real estate sector, the government had last year allowed 100% FDI in the property and construction sector. Previously, any foreign investor wanting to buy real estate must get the approval of the Reserve Bank of India. The site involved must be more than 50,000 sq ft, and it must be a new construction. Coupled with the opening up of real estate funds to foreigners, this would result in more professional players, bigger projects and more transparency in the industry. Foreign investors can now invest in commercial real estate development projects that have a minimum built up area of 50,000 sq m while the minimum area threshold for FDI in integrated townships has been reduced to 25 acres from 100 acres previously. Wholly-owned FDI projects must have a minimum equity investment of $10 million while for joint ventures it is $5 million. In today’s real estate market in India the biggest challenge is to have a good land Bank and sufficient capital for funding the projects. Given that land banks in metros are fast diminishing, satellite townships are emerging. The Indian reality sector has shown some basic changes like the companies going public to raise funds, corporatization, and from being project and location specific to expansion to other geographies. This has helped the customers, as they find the real estate firms to be more transparent and committed to the project execution.
Hyderabad
Andhra Pradesh, one of the bigger states in India has a huge pool of highly qualified manpower with 29 universities producing 55,000 engineers, 110 polytechnics and 563 industrial training institutes turning out thousands more skilled workers every year. Andhra Pradesh is well connected to major Indian cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. Andhra state is home to various emerging industries like bulk drugs/pharmaceuticals, horticulture, poultry farming, spices mines/minerals, textiles/apparels and now IT. Emerging cities like Hyderabad (capitol to Andhra state) are drastically changing the face of urban India coupled with economic liberalization; such cities are engines of economic growth. Hyderabad is known for its rich history, culture and architecture representing its unique characteristic of a meeting point for North and South India, and its multi-lingual culture, both geographically and culturally. Hence, Hyderabad is considered to be the gateway of southern India. Hyderabad has also been referred to as the second silicon valley of India next to bangalore. With a population of approximately 6.5 million (65 lakh), it is India’s 5th largest metropolis and the 41st largest metropolitan area in the world. Hyderabad has a cosmopolitan culture and a very affordable living standard compared to other competitors like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. Hyderabad actually involves twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and also has many upcoming satellite townships like Shamshabad (the location for the new airport), Gachibowli, and Uppal etc. Hyderabad is the emerging IT /Biotechnology hub of India and has a very strong background in entertainment industry. Hyderabad has initiated a whole host of investment friendly initiatives from the governments of the past and present for almost a decade now, including a mix of public, private and private-public participation. Some of these are the ambitious Shamshabad international airport, the longest flyover in India, the IT hubs in Hi tech city, Gachibowli, Uppal, Shamirpet, the genome valley Biotechnology hub, Semiconductor Park and the Outer Ring Road (ORR) project. Like many Indian cities, Hyderabad has witnessed a remarkable growth in the real estate business, thanks to a predominantly information technology-driven boom in the 1990s and the retail industry growth over the last few years which have spurred hectic commercial activity. A number of retail malls have come up or are being built in the city. According to the latest estimates the IT exports from Hyderabad alone for the year 2005-06 is to surpass Rs. 12500 crores ($ 2.5 billion). The investment friendly government has also ensured extensive investments in the digital infrastructure within the city promoting the setting up of various educational campuses by a vast array of firms. Some of the very notable educational investments in pipeline being – Vedanta university, Birla campus, many prestigeous US universities etc.The city hosts two Central Universities, two Deemed Universities, and six State Universities.
Shamshabad – the future outlook
Shamshabad, located on the southern outskirts of Hyderabad is home to the state of the art airport project underway with active private public participation to meet the growing demands of the city. Currently the biggest project in Hyderabad, once completed the airport widely tipped to be among the best in Asia having world class facilities is expected to cater a total of around 7 million passengers per year in the intial phase and finally upto 50 million passengers per year. The project is well on course to complete its first phase in March 2008.This multi million dollar project is being built in an area of around 5,500 acres of land and will have the longest runway among Indian airports.Teh new airp[ort project also envisages plenty of real estate development within the airport like hotels, convention centers, shopping malls/entertainment complexes and Free Trade Zones etc. There is laso going to be a lot of business activity with regards to the adjacent Air Cargo comples and an MRO(Maintenance Repair and Overhaul facility) near or inside the airport. Hence, Shamshabad is witnessing many related investments in the area of hospitality, education, IT, ITES, Biotech parks, business parks, Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and housing coming up in and around the new International Airport. The Fabcity investment alone is around $3 billion and promises to generate an emplyment of around 1.5 million people by 2015 (both direct and indirect). The Fabcity project spanning over 1500 acres of land, being developed by a consortium of firms including both AMD and Intel, will open up a new business avenue of high end chip designing/testing and manufacturing, currently manufactured in few countries only. This is an extremly important project for India as it takes the Indian economy into the next level of the business learning curve. The second phase work on Fabcity project is set to commence from April 2007. Government of Andhra Pradesh has allotted close to 5000 acres of land for Software and Hardware park near Shamshabad ensuring a slew of MNC investments into these parks..
Other Related Investments in Shamshabad
The Mucherla IT park, located around 14 kms from the new airport has 850 acres of land, where 20 acres have been allotted to dell.Infosys is setting up a 550 acre campus, the biggest software facility in India, work foir which is supposed to begin soon sometime in 2007.
Amusement Park - Asia's biggest Amusement park being developed close to Shamshabad airport is to attract thousands of tourists everyday.
Apparel Park – Spread over 176 Acres of prime Industrial land complete with banks, post offices, exhibition halls and shopping complexes is a conglomeration of several garment making units. Dubai Garments companies such as Vetco, Atraco and Cristal Garments located in Jabel Ali Free Zone have already decided to shift their operations to Apparel Park.
Videocon Project – Videocon International, the country’s largest Consumer electronics manufacturer plans to pump Rs. 500 Crores into its state of the art manufacturing facility in the next 3-4 years.
Astra Micro Wave Products Ltd – Engaged in the manufacture of Communication related products including radar subsystems for defence and telecommunication sectors has embarked on a plan to set up its third plant near research centre Imarat.
International University - 100 Acres allotted for the International University in Hyderabad will provide quality education for International scholars. The International University is sure to attract nearly 10,000 international scholars every year.
AP Housing Board Township – Proposed 125 Acres township with Malaysian collaboration. In addition HUDA (hyderabad urban development authority) plans to auction a mega venture of 350 acres and develop a 600 Acres Township at Maheshwaram Mandal.
Catalytic Software Systems Company - Seattle based Catalytic Software Inc.
is all set to establish their development facility at Kancha Imarat The proposed software development centre-cum-township will provide employment to around 4000 IT professionals and have over 4000 houses for employees’ residential accommodation.
Nova Park – 3000 Acres of land has been allotted near the hardware park for the proposed NOVA Park.
According to real estate experts once the adjacent ORR (Outer ring road) project is completed the existing prices in and around Shamshabad like Kothur; Mansanpally could go up by another 20-25 percent. The ORR project is a six lane express way encircling Hyderabad city and runs very close to the Shamshabad Airport. The dedicated airport rail link between Begumpet and Shamshabad will bring down the travel time from the city center to Shamshabad by more than 50 % and will also provide connectivity to the other big projects in and around Shamshabad airport. There have been various pending proposals for more real estate activity in and around Shamshabad. The rail link modeled on the lines of the rail corridor in Hong Kong and London could bring down the average travel time from 90 minutes to 22 minutes. Andhra Pradesh government has recently sabctioned the Shamshabad Police Station as the biggest police station in Hyderabad with a force of more than 200 personnel and this facility will also be the most modern police station in the state.
MMTS(multi model transit system) Railway Station - The main MMTS Railway Station in Timmapur directly links this zone to the Cargo hold of the International Airport. With a sanction of 230 Crores for the development of Timmapur MMTS Railway Station, work is progressing at a rapid pace. What’s more, the Outer Ring Road coupled with the Express Highway and MMTS Railway connectivity will lead straight to the IT Hub of Gacchibowli and Madhapur. For the area, it will mean a straight access to the future.
Bibliography –
1. Google
2. Wikipedia
3. Indiatimes
4. Rediff
5. the new Hyderabad Airport website
6. AP government websites
Outsourcing and relevance of it in HR field especially for India - A news article write up by me.
1. With Indian BPO entering its third phase of evolution, do you think that a BPO career is evolving to become thing more than just a call centre? Why?
Of course the BPO career is much more than a call centre. One must notice that all BPO firms today; big/small do offer a proper hierarchical structure -right from an entry level employee to the top, no matter whether these fresh graduates/applicants ask for the same. The BPO industry is seeing a lot of growth not in terms of business/industry but more importantly growth in Value, be it customers, delivery, processes and employees. This growth in value also brings in better quality people and greater job challenges leading to have complex work to be addressed by well qualified manpower. And better qualified manpower would work in a career which has growth and learning in it.
What are the new kinds of opening in that are coming in?
BPO’s are either Voice based or Non Voice based. But off late BPO firms in India have added a host of new careers with expanding operations/roles and responsibilities. The new kind of openings would include increasing role on existing processes and ways to improve the same. Hence the role of Quality and Process, their inter-relations. Other new careers in BPO would be in Operations, Knowledge Management, Training skills, data Security etc.
3. Does this provide long term career prospective?
Today BPO firms are giving a lot of care in planning an employee’s career. This holds true for all levels of hierarchy. The industry is facing dual threats from an acute shortage of qualified manpower coupled with a very high rate of attrition. Hence employers are taking extra care to offer a proper career and hierarchy for the BPO employees. It is not limited to any particular BPO work. Many BPO firms have senior level executives, having started their career from entry level job. This is precisely BPO companies are looking for and would like to happen more. For the BPO industry in India, these are the right steps for further growth and consolidation.
If BPO of today has become more than just a customer care service, it means the expectations out of the BPO training institutes are also expanding in terms of the kind of manpower they prepare.
YOU’RE COMMENTS ON THE SAME.
Yes this is certainly an area to be tapped and expanded upon. There needs proper training company nexus more like we find in the software industry. Hence going forward we need to have training institutes which support the growing needs of the BPO industry on a proactive basis. In fact it would be good if the industry starts setting certain Training Best practices and the institutes follow the same to deliver Human Assets as future human capital. Training institutes need not just have mere expansion in terms of manpower or greater people but need to give more importance on Quality of the human capital and the processes it follows. I would go ahead and just a comprehensive ranking of the best training institutes for this industry on the basis of certain measurable parameters.
How do you plan to prepare the BPO manpower of tomorrow?
The BPO manpower should have thorough knowledge on the niche domain/vertical that each employee is working on. The trend in the BPO sector is a very gradual but constant move up the value chain. Hence in the longer term we will have to see more and more people transitioning from mere voice/non voice transactions to more complex tasks. This is a very good sign for everyone. Hence the manpower needs to have better knowledge/understanding of the existing/new processes; must me better equipped on Quality; have greater roles responsibilities/tasks. Hence the manpower of tomorrow for the industry need to be prepared to have constant skill up gradation with more maturity in task execution.
With non IT players, like BFSI, telecom, airlines etc. entering BPO, there is more and more need for domain expertise. How do you plan to catch up with this?
Precisely true is the above statement. The industry going forward need to be divided on the basis of verticals/domains and the value that these would generate, already firms are working on these criteria. We are on this track as far both our employees and client is concerned. Hence we have our hierarchy architecture drawn on the basis of domains/skills exhibited and try consolidating the same. Thus I have personally seen a lot of positives from the clients end as well as from the employees and greater clarity in our day to day work vis-à-vis the goals set.
Do you think that the demand from BPO players’ w.r.t the kind of manpower they are looking for has changed over the past one year? To what extent and HOW?
Yes this is one thing which has defiantly changed for the better. The BPO industry is choosier and is very importantly on the look out for the “right kind of employee”. This change has resulted due to various factors, more due to this demand – supply of manpower imbalance perception. But truly speaking, the BPO industry is bleeding with high attrition rates. Hence the industry is giving extra care in getting the “right fit”. The selection processes are getting more scientific with more usage/involvement of technology in hiring the right candidate. More thought is put on getting proper mix for a given job profile and greater role is being given to Human Resource Outsourcing firms, who are better able to adapt and implement such tasks for the industry.
How have you catched up with this change?
Yes we have and being in this industry and seeing the churns for sometime now we are geared up on this front.
What are the weak points with today's BPO trainers?
Today’s trainers give a lot more impetus on voice based training. The training also does not involve a lot on career planning but more on to cashing in this BPO industry growth wave. The trainers are more inclined on giving greater thrust on language but there are a host of other major factors which needs equal attention, if not more. These would be more on the work, etiquettes, ethics and data/information security – to mention a few
How do you plan to counter those?
We give a lot more importance on training ourselves. All the employees go through a mandatory training programme every quarter for given period of time, no matter how senior/junior one is. Also all new employees do go through compulsory induction training programme. More important the trainers are trained and assessed/monitored by the experts on a very regular basis. We encourage a lot of feedbacks and it has value as the employee sees genuine feedbacks getting implemented. Thus to me we are on the move in a very right direction.
Demand for foreign language skills, apart from English, is also rising. How are BPO trainers planning to catch up with this?
Foreign language skills are very much an important ingredient of the industry as we move to newer geographies and clients. We have a two pronged strategy to counter this. Off late we have a lot of foreigners coming and working with our employees, here in India. These foreigners are more preferred from those nations where we have our clients or we are prospecting for one. This helps the employees/trainers to better understand their culture and many other nuances. We are also giving preference, recruiting trainers having additional foreign language proficiency. BPO trainers need to have multiple foreign language skills to become more important for the job market and also to be better prepared for a job.
Of course the BPO career is much more than a call centre. One must notice that all BPO firms today; big/small do offer a proper hierarchical structure -right from an entry level employee to the top, no matter whether these fresh graduates/applicants ask for the same. The BPO industry is seeing a lot of growth not in terms of business/industry but more importantly growth in Value, be it customers, delivery, processes and employees. This growth in value also brings in better quality people and greater job challenges leading to have complex work to be addressed by well qualified manpower. And better qualified manpower would work in a career which has growth and learning in it.
What are the new kinds of opening in that are coming in?
BPO’s are either Voice based or Non Voice based. But off late BPO firms in India have added a host of new careers with expanding operations/roles and responsibilities. The new kind of openings would include increasing role on existing processes and ways to improve the same. Hence the role of Quality and Process, their inter-relations. Other new careers in BPO would be in Operations, Knowledge Management, Training skills, data Security etc.
3. Does this provide long term career prospective?
Today BPO firms are giving a lot of care in planning an employee’s career. This holds true for all levels of hierarchy. The industry is facing dual threats from an acute shortage of qualified manpower coupled with a very high rate of attrition. Hence employers are taking extra care to offer a proper career and hierarchy for the BPO employees. It is not limited to any particular BPO work. Many BPO firms have senior level executives, having started their career from entry level job. This is precisely BPO companies are looking for and would like to happen more. For the BPO industry in India, these are the right steps for further growth and consolidation.
If BPO of today has become more than just a customer care service, it means the expectations out of the BPO training institutes are also expanding in terms of the kind of manpower they prepare.
YOU’RE COMMENTS ON THE SAME.
Yes this is certainly an area to be tapped and expanded upon. There needs proper training company nexus more like we find in the software industry. Hence going forward we need to have training institutes which support the growing needs of the BPO industry on a proactive basis. In fact it would be good if the industry starts setting certain Training Best practices and the institutes follow the same to deliver Human Assets as future human capital. Training institutes need not just have mere expansion in terms of manpower or greater people but need to give more importance on Quality of the human capital and the processes it follows. I would go ahead and just a comprehensive ranking of the best training institutes for this industry on the basis of certain measurable parameters.
How do you plan to prepare the BPO manpower of tomorrow?
The BPO manpower should have thorough knowledge on the niche domain/vertical that each employee is working on. The trend in the BPO sector is a very gradual but constant move up the value chain. Hence in the longer term we will have to see more and more people transitioning from mere voice/non voice transactions to more complex tasks. This is a very good sign for everyone. Hence the manpower needs to have better knowledge/understanding of the existing/new processes; must me better equipped on Quality; have greater roles responsibilities/tasks. Hence the manpower of tomorrow for the industry need to be prepared to have constant skill up gradation with more maturity in task execution.
With non IT players, like BFSI, telecom, airlines etc. entering BPO, there is more and more need for domain expertise. How do you plan to catch up with this?
Precisely true is the above statement. The industry going forward need to be divided on the basis of verticals/domains and the value that these would generate, already firms are working on these criteria. We are on this track as far both our employees and client is concerned. Hence we have our hierarchy architecture drawn on the basis of domains/skills exhibited and try consolidating the same. Thus I have personally seen a lot of positives from the clients end as well as from the employees and greater clarity in our day to day work vis-à-vis the goals set.
Do you think that the demand from BPO players’ w.r.t the kind of manpower they are looking for has changed over the past one year? To what extent and HOW?
Yes this is one thing which has defiantly changed for the better. The BPO industry is choosier and is very importantly on the look out for the “right kind of employee”. This change has resulted due to various factors, more due to this demand – supply of manpower imbalance perception. But truly speaking, the BPO industry is bleeding with high attrition rates. Hence the industry is giving extra care in getting the “right fit”. The selection processes are getting more scientific with more usage/involvement of technology in hiring the right candidate. More thought is put on getting proper mix for a given job profile and greater role is being given to Human Resource Outsourcing firms, who are better able to adapt and implement such tasks for the industry.
How have you catched up with this change?
Yes we have and being in this industry and seeing the churns for sometime now we are geared up on this front.
What are the weak points with today's BPO trainers?
Today’s trainers give a lot more impetus on voice based training. The training also does not involve a lot on career planning but more on to cashing in this BPO industry growth wave. The trainers are more inclined on giving greater thrust on language but there are a host of other major factors which needs equal attention, if not more. These would be more on the work, etiquettes, ethics and data/information security – to mention a few
How do you plan to counter those?
We give a lot more importance on training ourselves. All the employees go through a mandatory training programme every quarter for given period of time, no matter how senior/junior one is. Also all new employees do go through compulsory induction training programme. More important the trainers are trained and assessed/monitored by the experts on a very regular basis. We encourage a lot of feedbacks and it has value as the employee sees genuine feedbacks getting implemented. Thus to me we are on the move in a very right direction.
Demand for foreign language skills, apart from English, is also rising. How are BPO trainers planning to catch up with this?
Foreign language skills are very much an important ingredient of the industry as we move to newer geographies and clients. We have a two pronged strategy to counter this. Off late we have a lot of foreigners coming and working with our employees, here in India. These foreigners are more preferred from those nations where we have our clients or we are prospecting for one. This helps the employees/trainers to better understand their culture and many other nuances. We are also giving preference, recruiting trainers having additional foreign language proficiency. BPO trainers need to have multiple foreign language skills to become more important for the job market and also to be better prepared for a job.
Recruitment Outsourcing (RPO) - An Indian perspective
Q1) what is the scenario of RPO in India in terms of growth and future projection?
The potential for RPO in India is immense as India is going to face a talent crunch to the tune of half million people in the next few years. Already there is extensive research/debate over the employability of the vast talent pool that India generates. It is quite clear all are not employable be it in engineering, pharmaceuticals, retailing or some other sunrise verticals. This scenario nicely sets up the need for focused players in recruiting as RPO service providers will be taking the burden out of the headhunting business of the corporate sector. There is an intense war for talent. The hiring projections for India are very rosy and the clients are demanding higher quality candidates with increased efficiency. Personally I feel RPO as an industry will grow 30 to 35 % annually for the next 5 years.
Q2) why companies are preferring it?
In a recent survey conducted by Vati consulting for HR Managers of 50 IT companies in India, over 80% of the participating HR managers believed RPO plays an important role in recruitment and over 50 % have evaluated and used RPO in their companies. This is very true with a booming economy growing at break neck speed having a host of industries simultaneously showing double digit growth for many consecutive years. The HR managers have a tough task in hand to recruit large chunk of quality manpower to sustain business growth, find suitable replacements and also to manage the growing problems of attrition. Here the RPO providers come into picture as they will ensure speedy recruitment. Actually RPO firms act as specialized consulting firms for recruitments.
Q3) Can we have some facts and figure on RPO in the Indian context?
Some research projections put the entire Indian recruiting industry to be close to $ 1 billion. The RPO pie should not be more than 20 to 25% of this pie. But according to industry experts the potential for the Indian RPO industry will be to generate revenues of around $ 2 billion in the next 5 years. Of course if similar growth trends continue in Indian economy it has every reason to attain these projections.
Q4) what is awareness about RPO in the country?
The RPO sector in India is in its infancy stage with a lot of scope for making it big. The concept of RPO is very renowned and accepted in developed nations but in India there are a handful of firms working in this space. There has been a lot of awareness towards the need to involve RPO’s in the hiring process of firms especially in the IT sector. This definitely will ease the burden from HR operations of the company.
The potential for RPO in India is immense as India is going to face a talent crunch to the tune of half million people in the next few years. Already there is extensive research/debate over the employability of the vast talent pool that India generates. It is quite clear all are not employable be it in engineering, pharmaceuticals, retailing or some other sunrise verticals. This scenario nicely sets up the need for focused players in recruiting as RPO service providers will be taking the burden out of the headhunting business of the corporate sector. There is an intense war for talent. The hiring projections for India are very rosy and the clients are demanding higher quality candidates with increased efficiency. Personally I feel RPO as an industry will grow 30 to 35 % annually for the next 5 years.
Q2) why companies are preferring it?
In a recent survey conducted by Vati consulting for HR Managers of 50 IT companies in India, over 80% of the participating HR managers believed RPO plays an important role in recruitment and over 50 % have evaluated and used RPO in their companies. This is very true with a booming economy growing at break neck speed having a host of industries simultaneously showing double digit growth for many consecutive years. The HR managers have a tough task in hand to recruit large chunk of quality manpower to sustain business growth, find suitable replacements and also to manage the growing problems of attrition. Here the RPO providers come into picture as they will ensure speedy recruitment. Actually RPO firms act as specialized consulting firms for recruitments.
Q3) Can we have some facts and figure on RPO in the Indian context?
Some research projections put the entire Indian recruiting industry to be close to $ 1 billion. The RPO pie should not be more than 20 to 25% of this pie. But according to industry experts the potential for the Indian RPO industry will be to generate revenues of around $ 2 billion in the next 5 years. Of course if similar growth trends continue in Indian economy it has every reason to attain these projections.
Q4) what is awareness about RPO in the country?
The RPO sector in India is in its infancy stage with a lot of scope for making it big. The concept of RPO is very renowned and accepted in developed nations but in India there are a handful of firms working in this space. There has been a lot of awareness towards the need to involve RPO’s in the hiring process of firms especially in the IT sector. This definitely will ease the burden from HR operations of the company.
Recruiting/Staffing industry in India - write up for a newspaper article.
What are the problems that the recruitment and staffing solutions companies face in today's scenario?
Everybody knows the fact that it is a fast changing and dynamic world we live today. A world full of excitement and challenges; growth and it comes with its own trappings. The recruitment/staffing solutions industry do face similar troubles. Some of them being security (confidentiality) issues, lack of domain expertise, localization issues, cost factors, vendor management & the quality of vendors. Recruitment industry is beset with a proper lack of code of conduct. Since the industry has grown to become close to USD 1 bn, it urgently requires regulation. The lack of proper regulation results in poor quality vendors, poor/outdated selection methods, losing control over data security/privacy, and most important questions arise on ethics and lack of proper forum to negotiate with the government on the various ways to improve the industry.
What is the outlook for the next two years in these areas?
Well the outlook is very promising. India is facing acute talent crunch (to find the right candidate for the right job) and it is expected to be around half a million in the coming few years. India generates huge talent pool and all of them are not employable. Hence India is poised to cater to both the domestic and international demands. Domestically, the recruitment industry has its task cut with very ambitious hiring targets of many emerging and big firms in India. We have a booming IT/ITES, Retail, Biotech & Pharmaceutical sectors to name a few. Globally India is being seen as a good bet for HR related outsourcing (includes recruiting). While internationally the trend is to outsource recruitment processes to focused firms with deep understanding of the recruitment domain. India is one of the emerging economies with almost near double digit growth for the past few years. All these recruitment outsourcing companies have been setting there offices in India tapping our vast knowledge workforce. One can expect the Indian recruitment industry to grow at around 30 5 annually for the next 5 years.
Because a lot of HR personnel are engaged in recruitment process, most of the times they fail to focus on HR activities like training, staffing needs etc. What is the way out for this?
The way out is to outsource the HR function either fully or in parts to an HRO (Human Resource Outsourcer). HRO is a process where the company uses the services of a third party to take care of its HR function depending on the need to help realize and achieve standardization of processes/economies of scale. These include – payroll services, benefits administration, education & training, recruiting & staffing, personnel administration and other related HR functions. Companies can either outsource part of HR function like recruitment/staffing and concentrate on other key employee issues like training, compensation etc. or can outsource almost entire HR processes to ensure better service deliverables to employee’s satisfaction and give attention to on more relevant strategic issues. According to some research estimates the HR outsourcing industry is to become a USD 70 billion industry by 2010.
Everybody knows the fact that it is a fast changing and dynamic world we live today. A world full of excitement and challenges; growth and it comes with its own trappings. The recruitment/staffing solutions industry do face similar troubles. Some of them being security (confidentiality) issues, lack of domain expertise, localization issues, cost factors, vendor management & the quality of vendors. Recruitment industry is beset with a proper lack of code of conduct. Since the industry has grown to become close to USD 1 bn, it urgently requires regulation. The lack of proper regulation results in poor quality vendors, poor/outdated selection methods, losing control over data security/privacy, and most important questions arise on ethics and lack of proper forum to negotiate with the government on the various ways to improve the industry.
What is the outlook for the next two years in these areas?
Well the outlook is very promising. India is facing acute talent crunch (to find the right candidate for the right job) and it is expected to be around half a million in the coming few years. India generates huge talent pool and all of them are not employable. Hence India is poised to cater to both the domestic and international demands. Domestically, the recruitment industry has its task cut with very ambitious hiring targets of many emerging and big firms in India. We have a booming IT/ITES, Retail, Biotech & Pharmaceutical sectors to name a few. Globally India is being seen as a good bet for HR related outsourcing (includes recruiting). While internationally the trend is to outsource recruitment processes to focused firms with deep understanding of the recruitment domain. India is one of the emerging economies with almost near double digit growth for the past few years. All these recruitment outsourcing companies have been setting there offices in India tapping our vast knowledge workforce. One can expect the Indian recruitment industry to grow at around 30 5 annually for the next 5 years.
Because a lot of HR personnel are engaged in recruitment process, most of the times they fail to focus on HR activities like training, staffing needs etc. What is the way out for this?
The way out is to outsource the HR function either fully or in parts to an HRO (Human Resource Outsourcer). HRO is a process where the company uses the services of a third party to take care of its HR function depending on the need to help realize and achieve standardization of processes/economies of scale. These include – payroll services, benefits administration, education & training, recruiting & staffing, personnel administration and other related HR functions. Companies can either outsource part of HR function like recruitment/staffing and concentrate on other key employee issues like training, compensation etc. or can outsource almost entire HR processes to ensure better service deliverables to employee’s satisfaction and give attention to on more relevant strategic issues. According to some research estimates the HR outsourcing industry is to become a USD 70 billion industry by 2010.
Future of recruitment outsourcing in India (written on behalf Kenexa senior executive)
Posted in MUMBAI MIRROR on Monday, May 07, 2007
www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article§id=5&contentid=200705070238553437a379ee4
New Delhi: With the country set to face a talent crunch of half million people in the next few years, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is posing a lot of opportunities. With emerging sectors like retailing and IT, the need for focused players in recruiting as RPO service providers will increase, according to human capital management company Kenexa Technologies.“There is an intense war for talent. The hiring projections for India are very rosy and the clients are demanding higher quality candidates with increased efficiency. I feel, RPO as an industry will grow 30 to 35 per cent annually for the next 5 years,” Kenexa Technologies Director Tarun Singh told Mumbai Mirror.It is estimated that within the Indian market, the total annual spend on recruitment is Rs 700-800 crore. This can theoretically be considered the potential size of the RPO business, a subset of human resource outsourcing (HRO), that can be generated from locally-based companies.“Hiring pressure is forcing companies outsource the entire recruitment cycle from needs assessment to sourcing, screening, and interviewing candidates, and hiring. In fact, 80 per cent of HR personnel are engaged in recruitment process and in between they fail to focus on other core HR activities, including training, staffing needs, ensuring performance. Here enters RPO that takes care of the entire recruitment headache and saves time and cost of companies too.” Kelly Services India Country General Manager Achal Khanna pointed out.A Nasscom-McKinsey report has projected that the Indian firms’ revenues from HRO will increase to $3.5 billion by 2008, while Gartner thinks India can expect to win 10-15 per cent of the US HRO services market; and finally, only 6 per cent of US HR spend is offshored, a figure that is certain to rise.Talking to this newspaper, talent management firm SITI Corporation President and CEO Veena Gundavelli said, “We have serviced about 100 RPO clients in SITI in the last couple of years and we expect to double the customer base with some long term-contracts. The types of customers that we have can broadly be classified into four verticals - IT, engineering, healthcare and financial services industry.”Gundavelli explained that RPO is primarily being embraced in two models – model one is pure sourcing and providing support services to on-shore US based recruiters to enhance their productivity and effectiveness, model two is full cycle recruiting from sourcing, screening and on-boarding for both temporary contract as well as permanent positions to reduce overall cost of recruiting operations and to improve efficiency at the same time.
www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article§id=5&contentid=200705070238553437a379ee4
New Delhi: With the country set to face a talent crunch of half million people in the next few years, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is posing a lot of opportunities. With emerging sectors like retailing and IT, the need for focused players in recruiting as RPO service providers will increase, according to human capital management company Kenexa Technologies.“There is an intense war for talent. The hiring projections for India are very rosy and the clients are demanding higher quality candidates with increased efficiency. I feel, RPO as an industry will grow 30 to 35 per cent annually for the next 5 years,” Kenexa Technologies Director Tarun Singh told Mumbai Mirror.It is estimated that within the Indian market, the total annual spend on recruitment is Rs 700-800 crore. This can theoretically be considered the potential size of the RPO business, a subset of human resource outsourcing (HRO), that can be generated from locally-based companies.“Hiring pressure is forcing companies outsource the entire recruitment cycle from needs assessment to sourcing, screening, and interviewing candidates, and hiring. In fact, 80 per cent of HR personnel are engaged in recruitment process and in between they fail to focus on other core HR activities, including training, staffing needs, ensuring performance. Here enters RPO that takes care of the entire recruitment headache and saves time and cost of companies too.” Kelly Services India Country General Manager Achal Khanna pointed out.A Nasscom-McKinsey report has projected that the Indian firms’ revenues from HRO will increase to $3.5 billion by 2008, while Gartner thinks India can expect to win 10-15 per cent of the US HRO services market; and finally, only 6 per cent of US HR spend is offshored, a figure that is certain to rise.Talking to this newspaper, talent management firm SITI Corporation President and CEO Veena Gundavelli said, “We have serviced about 100 RPO clients in SITI in the last couple of years and we expect to double the customer base with some long term-contracts. The types of customers that we have can broadly be classified into four verticals - IT, engineering, healthcare and financial services industry.”Gundavelli explained that RPO is primarily being embraced in two models – model one is pure sourcing and providing support services to on-shore US based recruiters to enhance their productivity and effectiveness, model two is full cycle recruiting from sourcing, screening and on-boarding for both temporary contract as well as permanent positions to reduce overall cost of recruiting operations and to improve efficiency at the same time.
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