Press Release                                                

          
India is back on hiring: Ma Foi Employment Trends Survey

New Delhi, March 9, 2010: The organized sector in India is set to create close to a million new jobs in the year 2010 -2011 reveals Ma Foi Employment Trends Survey.

The survey was conducted among 1,000 companies across 11 industry segments in India – Banking and Financial Services (BFSI), Education, Energy, Health, Hospitality & Travel, IT, ITES, Real estate & Construction, Trade, Transport and Manufacturing. These companies were queried about their hiring intentions in the (a) over the next 3 months and (b) over the next year.

The overall picture looks bright for the year with the intention of creating close to a million new jobs. However, in the immediate future of 3 months, hiring intentions of employers are not loud and clear. Most of them are cautious for the quarter but optimistic about the FY 2010-11.

BFSI:
Total Employee Base: 8,52,000 New Jobs: 46,000

Employment in the Banking and Financial Services industry has not grown in the aggregate last year due to low additional employment by public sector financial institutions. However, with greater efforts in financial inclusion, this trend is expected to turn around. Moreover, average age of an employee in PSU banks being 53, we will witness replenishment of talent soon there. Last year’s troubles in the financial sector have taught the sector many lessons and its impact will be visible this year on employment numbers and criteria. This sector is looking to hire over 46,000 people in 2010.

Education, Training and Consultancy:
Total Employee Base: 97,15,000 New Jobs: 83,000
India has the largest student population in the world with 13.5 crore children in primary schools. And this large body of students needs educational infrastructure and teaching staff. The country faces a shortage of at least two lakh schools. To plug the gap, investments are flowing in. We see a surge in education, especially in the private sector; vocational training, professional training, as well as growth in private schools have been aiding this momentum.

Energy generation & supply:
Total Employee Base: 8,74,000 New Jobs: 15,000
Major projects are not expected to come on-stream this year. Bulk of the growth is likely to come from the city utilities. However, this sector is expected to generate many more jobs in the coming years.

Healthcare
Total Employee Base: 33,66,000 New Jobs: 2,95,000
Private healthcare boom continues notwithstanding the slowdown. Over the last 18 months, when most industries were busy restructuring operations, cleaning up books or optimizing their costs, Indian pharmaceutical and healthcare industry was adding manpower and giving salary increases. Next year looks bright with addition of many new hospital beds, deeper penetration of super-specialty healthcare, greater coverage of insurance facilities and increasing medical tourism.

Hospitality & Travel:
Total Employee Base: 59,51,000 New Jobs: 1,37,000
India is expected to add about 15,600 hotel rooms in 2010. And by 2011, 40 new international hotel brands will be operational in India. Add to this, close to 415 projects or 68,480 rooms are under various stages of development and 41 per cent of these projects may start adding to existing inventory from 2010. This is not a small figure and even if one presumes a moderate figure of two people to service per room, the number of people that the sector will need to recruit is 32,000. Business travel is coming back to track and positive sentiments of consumers to spend on travel and tourism has been helping this sector sustain this momentum. This sector is likely to generate the 2nd largest number of jobs in the country in the coming days.

IT & ITES
Total Employee Base: 17,93,000 New Jobs: 97,000
Bench strength in the industry is still not used up fully. Hiring is expected to take place due to continued international demand in the IT sector. As far as ITES is concerned, domestic demand is growing though many international contracts have not yet come back to normalcy. Having dominated the job market with the greatest number of new job additions year after year, India’s IT and ITES industry is showing signs of stabilizing. Indian industry is showing signs of climbing the value chain and winning deals in knowledge-intensive applications. This sector will create a substantial amount of new jobs – 97000, the 4th largest amongst all sectors.

Real Estate & Construction
Total Employee Base: 7,30,000 New Jobs: 1,36,000

Smaller towns and suburban townships are growing with lower value housing. Infrastructure growth continues in many ways and appears to be accelerating. From unskilled site workers to highly skilled talent like engineers, foremen, crane operators, project managers and architects, this sector is expected to explode with new jobs.

Trade
Total Employee Base: 611,000 New Jobs: 13,000

Organized retail is yet to recover fully, but new entry is expected towards the latter part of the year. With improvements in consumer sentiments, this sector is likely to gather momentum towards later part of the year.

Transport, Storage & Communication
Total Employee Base: 26,38,000 New Jobs: 27,000

Economic growth will push transport forward and new jobs will get created in this segment. Storage is yet not on a high growth path. Communication sector policies such as 3G introduction are likely to aid the growth creating new jobs. This sector however has been improving its operational efficiencies in many ways thus, not creating jobs in proportion with the sector growth.

Manufacturing
Total Employee Base: 55,30,000 New Jobs: 68,000

Auto sector, light engineering, minerals and metals are expected to show some resurgence.  Recent trends of increasing sales of automobiles and consumer goods are testimony of this growth. SSIs still appear to be cautious, still impacted by liquidity constraints. This sector has enhanced its productivity levels and optimized costs over the last year. The year ahead will witness growth in jobs and change in hiring trends. We will see hiring more freshers and people with specialized skills.

Employment trends – city-wise

Mumbai – Moderately down

Entertainment up, media remains affected, financial services yet to pick up significantly. Reversal of downward trend in business services; construction sector has bottomed out.

Delhi – Significantly down

Media and business services have taken a big hit. Retail has not recovered yet; financial services and construction sector see slow upturn.

Bangalore – Moderately up
Employment in IT is picking up again; retail sector remains adversely affected as players don’t add new stores. Business services continue to do well.

Kolkata – Moderately up

Signs of revival in the manufacturing and IT. However, business services remain down and media continues to remain adversely affected due to the slowdown.

Chennai – Significantly up

Manufacturing and IT are both up significantly, slight improvement in retail and financial services. Situation may improve in the next couple of quarters.

Pune – Strongly up

Movement from Mumbai to Pune has strengthened due to better infrastructure. IT and manufacturing are strongly up as economy looks up. Construction is hiring again.

Hyderabad – Strongly down

Political uncertainty has forced some companies to put plans on hold. IT, manufacturing, infrastructure and construction are all down.

Ahmedabad – Strongly up

Manufacturing sector, business services, media and transport sector all see a strong uptrend as new investments continue to flow into Gujarat.

Key findings of the report:

•    HR managers and entrepreneurs quite uncertain on hiring in the short term, but see the need for significant fresh hiring sometime during the calendar year 2010.
•    Policy uncertainty as well as recent experiences are supporting this uncertainty in hiring
•    Overall therefore, most see very little hiring this quarter, but expect to ramp up in FY 2010-11
•    Industry specific constraints  are still impacting hiring in sectors such as IT and trade, though this is not expected to remain for long
•    Most see the current growth levels as sustained and on an accelerating trend and expect necessity for fresh hiring
•    Consensus among managers that despite rising inflation, new hiring will not be at significantly higher remuneration levels than observed currently
•    Cost control seen as a constant concern across all sectors

The structured analysis was administered by India’s leading economic research firm Indicus Analytics using a quick industry analysis to ascertain the various forces that are working on companies that are affecting their intentions to hire.

Note for Editors:

Ma Foi is available to discuss specific areas highlighted in this press release, such as trend in particular sector, city etc.

About Ma Foi Employment Trends survey
Ma Foi Employment Trends Survey (MEtS) is one of the largest and comprehensive study to predict employment trends and opportunities in the organised sector for 2010. MEtS is conducted by Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd., a Randstad company and the largest integrated HR services provider in the country. The first MEtS Survey was commissioned in November 2004 by Ma Foi.
About Ma Foi

Ma Foi, a Randstad company, is an international HR service provider servicing world class companies across the globe. Ma Foi which was started in 1992 has grown into a full spectrum HR services provider for clients worldwide. It has helped generate career opportunities for more than 2, 80, 000 individuals in 36 countries and has worked for over 250 Fortune 500 organizations.

Ma Foi offers the broadest HR services portfolio ranging from Executive Search, Staffing, Consulting and Outsourcing to Automation and Training. The services provided by Ma Foi Consulting includes, Consulting, Outsourcing, Recruitment Back office and HR statistical research. The organization has built a network of offices across the country to be within reach of candidates and flex workers.

Ma Foi continues to focus on developing customized and innovative HR services, leveraging on its unique strengths of geographical presence and end-to-end capability across all HR service functions.

About Randstad:
Randstad specializes in solutions in the field of flexible work and human resources services. Our services range from regular temporary staffing and permanent placement to inhouse, professionals, search & selection, and HR Solutions. Since acquiring Vedior in 2008, the Randstad Group is the second largest HR services provider in the world with top three positions in Argentina, Belgium & Luxembourg, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Greece & Cyprus, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the UK, as well as major positions in Australia and the United States. End 2009 Randstad had approximately 25,500 employees working from over 4,100 branches and inhouse locations in 44 countries around the world.

Randstad generated a revenue of € 12.4 billion in 2009. Randstad was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Diemen, the Netherlands. Randstad Holding nv is listed on the NYSE Euronext Amsterdam, where options for stocks in Randstad are also traded. For more information see www.randstad.com

Researched by Maninder

ONLINE EXAMS ARE HERE TO STAY

•    “Examinations and the Role of Technology: Emerging Directions” , an initiative by MeritTrac, a research report published by EDGE-Value Notes, gives a big thumbs up for technology in exams from both students and universities
•    Comprehensive survey covering over 75 university VCs/Registrars/Controllers of Examination (CoE) and 400-odd students across the country
•    70% of all VCs/Registrars/CoEs indicated that they are considering introducing online examinations and 68% of these respondents indicated that they will do this in the next 6-36 months.
•    69% of all students, particularly those from Tier III cities, felt that universities that conduct online exams are more technically advanced.

New Delhi March 4, 2010: India’s first-ever comprehensive research report to understand the future of examinations the EDGE-ValueNotes report, `Examinations and the Role of Technology: Emerging Directions’, was released today at the EDGE2010 conference by Dr. Arun Nigavekar, Former Chairman UGC and Dr. William G Harris, CEO of Association of Test Publishers (ATP), USA.

This report, the first of its kind in India, endeavors to look at the issues with traditional paper-pencil examinations and the potential benefits of leveraging technology to deliver such exams. The report provides insights into the awareness, perception, readiness and experience of key stakeholders in Indian higher education with respect to technology solutions to assessment, primarily online examinations. The study was based on an exhaustive, countrywide survey of more than 75 key decision makers including vice chancellors, exam controllers, university registrars, academic experts, etc.

“It was heartening to note that decision makers are not only aware of the benefits of using technology for assessments, but they have also indicated positive intent with regards to implementation of online assessment,” says Dr Arun Nigavekar, Former Chairman, UGC and member MeritTrac Education Advisory Panel.

The study also includes a student perception survey – covering 400 students across several Tier I, II & III cities, to understand how students feel about online exams. The survey indicates that students too are positively inclined towards online examinations, despite concerns being raised by skeptics on their behalf. Interestingly, the supposedly less technology-enabled students in the Tier III cities are the most positive about such exams.

“This report will help catalyze the change that is needed in examination processes. At MeritTrac, we have always strived to bring scalable technology for examinations and this will help us address the key concerns in a structured manner,” says Madan Padaki, CEO of MeritTrac. This report is an initiative by MeritTrac, in association with Excelsoft.

Some interesting insights from the survey of university officials are:
•    52% of all VCs/Registrars/CoEs interviewed indicated that they are interested in the concept of using technology in exams, 15% are in the experimentation stage and 15% have already begun.
•    70% of all VCs/Registrars/CoEs indicated that they are considering introducing online examinations and 68% of these respondents indicated that they will do this in the next 6-36 months.
•    Decision makers largely believe that technology solutions can mitigate some of the immense challenges we face and the level of awareness on the potential of technology is quite high.
•    The top three priorities in exam management are faster results, greater transparency, and student authentication/higher security. Respondents said these will have the most impact on their decision to go online.
•    Infrastructure, suitability of the test format and equating between multiple-batches of exams emerged as the top three perceived challenges with almost 60% of the respondents referring to them.
•    Some respondents were also worried about the students from rural areas, who may not have access to computers at all, and may face difficulty in adopting this.
On the perceptions of the students;
•    An overwhelming majority of students (95%) are aware of online assessments, and this is consistent even in Tier III cities.
•    The majority of students (69%) felt that universities that conduct online exams are more technically advanced – especially students originating from Tier III cities.
•    Majority of students consider the online process to be more accurate and secure, compared to traditional methods.
•    Transparency of processes and convenience are the main perceived benefits, though students are concerned about the difficulty of usage of online exams, and lack of support from exam authorities.

“Despite the recent issues in online testing, universities still believe in the positive impact of technology, though they are more concerned about the implementation.  Considering there is still a lot of groundwork to be done, the penetration of online exams will increase by 5 -10% in the next two years. However, given the greater levels of experimentation and innovation in the assessment space, we believe that there will be significant traction over the next three to five years,” feels Mr Arun Jethmalani, Managing Director, ValueNotes.

About MeritTrac

MeritTrac is India’s Largest Testing & Skills Assessment Company. MeritTrac provides innovative examination process and assessment solutions to Educational Institutions, Government/ PSU sector and leading corporate entities.
MeritTrac will deliver around 3.5 million exams in FY2009-10 and has delivered close to 8 million exams till date – both in a paper-pencil mode and online mode. Headquartered in Bangalore, and having presence in 16 cities in India, including a network of company-owned testing centers, MeritTrac has over 300 full-time employees. The test research & test development teams have created a battery of over 300 validated tests, spanning areas like communication skills, general abilities, domain and behavioral skills. The test delivery teams have delivered tests in over 250 cities in the country – with the distinction of having delivered 1 million exams, in a period of 10 days across 175 cities.
MeritTrac has created India’s largest test center network of 50,000 terminals with authorized Pariksha Centers being activated in 185 cities in India. MeritTrac has also defined robust processes for examinations which are ISO 9001:2008 certified.

In the Education sector, MeritTrac works with prestigious institutions like Gujarat Technological University, JIPMER Pondicherry, IIIT-Bangalore, Manipal University, Sikkim Manipal University, NMIMS University and Indian Institute of Banking & Finance. Some of its clients in the Government/PSU include Govt. of Orissa, Govt. of Gujarat and over 12 large Public Sector Units. HP, Microsoft, Accenture, Cognizant, Wipro, ICICI Bank, Titan, Axis Bank, Jindal Steel and over 100+ organisations use our assessments for pre-recruitment & employee assessments. MeritTrac is also the exclusive assessment partner to NASSCOM for its NAC-Tech certification Program and is an accredited Assessment body for the Modular Employable Skills (MES) program by DGET, Ministry of Labour & Employment.

MeritTrac has been an acknowledged leader and pioneer in the field of testing and has been bestowed with several awards & recognitions like the eIndia ICT Award & the Manthan South Asia Awards 2009 for the online Gujarat Common Entrance Test (GCET) project – awarded jointly with Gujarat Technological University, and NASSCOM IT Innovation Award 2007.

MeritTrac is also a full-member of Association of Test Publishers (ATP), US which is one of the prestigious associations of test publishing companies – the first company from India to be admitted to this association, and an active member of NASSCOM, CII and FICCI-Higher Education Network.

MeritTrac is an investee company of Manipal Education.

Researched by Maninder