The art of placement: Cash under the table

B-schools add a new component to their charges — placement fee. These B-schools say HR executives of some companies seek under-the-table money, and a luxury treatment for recruiting students from their campuses. Over half a dozen B-schools Business Standard spoke to confirmed, on the condition of anonymity, that they had been ‘forced’ to charge students between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000 as extra fee to meet placement expenses.

Read More http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/the-artplacement-cash-undertable/461103/

Source: Business Standard

Software product start-ups rely on smaller cities

Marketing challenges apart, 300 firms sprout in past 5 years in Tier-2, -3 cities. Even as the Indian IT services industry has not been able to make much inroads into the tier-2 and tier-3 cities, many software product development companies incorporated in recent years are banking on smaller cities to minimise operational costs. By operating out of smaller cities, most of these software product start-ups — led mostly by first-generation entrepreneurs — want to minimise their cost of operation during initial days. This helps them significantly, as the gestation period for product companies are considerably higher when compared with the IT services companies. Besides, these companies manage to attract good talents in these towns at a comparatively lower price, according to industry analysts.

Read More http://business-standard.com/india/news/software-product-start-ups-relysmaller-cities/460478/

Source: Business Standard

India Inc to go slow on hiring in 2012

Amit Bansal, CEO, Purple Leap, says, “In engineering, the bulk of recruitment is in the information technology (IT) sector. The sentiment has changed over time. In mid-2011, there was a 25-30 per cent increase for freshers in IT. In the later half, that sentiment changed. People are cautious. I believe that in the first quarter of 2012, the sentiment would be to wait and watch.”

Read More: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/india-inc-to-go-slowhiring-in-2012/459978/

Source: Business Standard