Now, TCS postpones promotions

It seems the financial turmoil sweeping the global markets has finally started hitting the Indian software industry. After a number of murmurs about impending job cuts delayed letters across top tech companies, the country's No. 1 IT services company Tata Consultancy Services has delayed promotions.

Sources told Indiatimes Infotech that in a message on the company's internal website on Monday, the company's global HR head and vice president Ajoy Mukherjee, communicated the company's decision to employees.

According to the note, Mukherjee has said that "considering the recent upheavals in the US financial markets that had global impact on the financial sector, we feel it would be prudent to wait for clarity in the business environment before we take a decision on promotions. As a result, the promotions will not be effected in second quarter this year."

However, the company communique added that TCS had completed the assessment process of selecting the individuals eligible for promotions, but was holding back promotions in view of the "current business environment which remains challenging and is expected to remain so for the near future."

When contacted by Indiatimes Infotech for their version of the news, the company's PR representative said that the company's spokesmen are traveling hence cannot be contacted.

But sources told Indiatimes Infotech that the process for most employees had been finished way back itself, and they had actually been expecting the good news for the past few weeks. The letters, they pointed out, had been given out by this time last year.

The catastrophic events overtaking global financial majors are expected to dent the revenues of Indian outsourcing companies, both in terms of the expected business and contracts they have already undertaken. Many of the affected investment banks are expected to pull out of some of their outsourcing contracts.

Analysts are of the opinion that TCS is likely to be hardest hit by the US financial crisis because of its significant exposure to Merrill Lynch, which analysts say ranks among top five financial services clients.
Incidentally, according to some recent media reports, TCS is also gearing up for another round of layoffs. The company also plans to discourage employees from staying on bench for more than two months at any of its centres.

The company had also fired close to 500 employees at the end of its annual appraisal cycle earlier this year, citing poor performance after its annual appraisal. It was also among the very first companies to announce a cut in the employee variable pay across the board.

The company which sees some project delays this quarter, but no cancellations, terms this as an employee utilisation exercise. The process will involve counselling employees and training them, according to the company executives. Employees would be asked to undertake projects on which they have never worked, and will have to update their skills.

Recently, TCS had also retrenched 15 employees from its Australian subsidiary. Last month too, the company had shown door to some 25 employees from its Kolkata and Bangalore centers, though it was done for a different reason as they were found to be fudging CVs.