Post-Diwali fortnight to register 25% job cuts: Assocham

New Delhi: The prevailing economic negativity that dampened the 2008 Diwali was expected but what was not is the post-Diwali scenario that indicates a strong slowing down. Corporate India is likely to announce lay offs of nearly 25% of its workforce within the next 10 days across seven key industrial segments, according to an analysis on ‘Jobs scenario, post-Diwali’ persented by industry chamber, Assocham.
These sectors comprise steel, cement, ITeS/BPO, financial and brokerage services, construction, real estate and aviation to begin with as their promoters are no longer in a position to sustain their operations with existing manpower strength.
Key Findings
* HR heads of a majority of the steel, cement, ITeS/BPO, financial and brokerage services including construction, real estate and aviation have drawn up conclusive plans to curtail their workforce by 25 to 30%, announcements for which are likely to come in by early November
* Most companies had wanted to start laying off employees in a phased manner much before Diwali but were advised to defer their restructuring plans
* Companies are thinking of further cutting down on bonus, ex-gratia and other incentives to reward performance
* Companies are also thinking of curtailing perks and perquisites of middle and senior managers as slowdown will continue and CEOs too might be expected to absorb salary cuts
* Manpower recruiting firms have deferred plans of expansion that require additional influx of funds since business houses in the crisis ridden sectors have stopped requisitioning human resource requirement
*The assessment suggests that negative sentiments in these sectors can be turned into an opportunity provided the Reserve Bank of India discontinues with its tight monetary policy and decreases the interest rates by at least 3%