Human Resource Community

CoinDCX, an Indian cryptocurrency firm, has managed to raise $135 million in funding. The money will be used to create a scalable web 3.0 product ecosystem. It intends to triple the size of its current workforce. That means it will have at least 1,000 employees by the end of the year. The cryptocurrency trading exchange, which only started four years ago, has joined the unicorn club and is now one of the most valuable companies in the cryptocurrency space. The Mumbai-based firm intends to focus on and expedite local hiring, and has launched a number of research efforts, outreach programmes, and strategic investments in this regard. Engineers, product developers, and compliance specialists will be hired. The company currently employs 400 people, with plans to expand to roughly 1,000 by the end of 2022. The startup currently has 12 million registered users, which is four times the 3.5 million people who signed up till August 2021. Pantera and Steadview led the recent funding round, which was also joined by Kingsway, Republic, Kindred, and DraperDragon. Coinbase, Polychain, B Capital Group, and Cadenza are among the existing investors who have increased their investments. CoinDCX, founded in 2018 by Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal, facilitates the buying and selling of crypto tokens, as well as lending and other crypto-enabled financial services. Coinbase announced earlier this month that company wants to hire more than 1,000 individuals by 2022. Clearly, investors are optimistic about the future of cryptocurrency.

Idea2IT, a Silicon Valley-based IT firm with a delivery centre in Chennai, has given 100 Maruti Suzuki cars to its employees as a token of appreciation for their hard work and loyalty. The models include the S-Cross and the Baleno, for which the company has spent approximately Rs 15 crore. Ideas2IT maintains that this is not an attempt to retain people solely because the company has a 2.5% attrition rate, but rather a way to express gratitude to its employees and demonstrate that it values their hard work and contribution to the company’s success. The company, which has a delivery centre in Chennai, decided to share its success and profits with all employees who have worked for the company for at least ten years, regardless of role. Murali Vivekanandan, founder and chairman of Ideas2IT, believes that the company’s loyal and deserving employees have earned these cars. While this is the first time the employees have received cars, the Company is known for sharing its wealth and success with its employees. Employees have previously received gold coins and iPhones as gifts. The company began as a consulting firm with a small team of six engineers and has since expanded to a 500-person workforce. It has offices in several countries, including India, Mexico, and the United States. Its clients include Microsoft, Facebook, Motorola, Bloomberg, Oracle, and Roche, and it has experienced rapid growth in the last four years.

UpGrad, an edtech firm, announced on Thursday that it has integrated all of Talentedge’s business, which will now operate under its own brand, after its owner, Sekhsaria Family Office, acquired a $2 billion stake in the company. UpGrad stated in December of last year that it will acquire Gurugram-based edtech rival Talentedge for Rs 350-400 crore. The near 100 percent share swap transaction was done at an upGrad value of $2 billion, while Talentedge was valued at Rs 205 crore. According to the company, Talentedge is on track to achieve a gross revenue of Rs 150 crore in the coming fiscal year. “Talentedge integrated inside upGrad will be a formidable combination that will be very value accretive for both,” said Narayanan V who leads private investments at Sekhsaria Family Office, owner of Talentedge. For degree programmes, Talentedge has partnered with leading universities. “The coming together of Talentedge with upGrad cements our leadership position in India’s lifelong learning market and we see great synergies, cost savings and our ability to scale and consolidate,” said Mayank Kumar, cofounder and MD, upGrad. UpGrad was founded in 2015 and now boasts a learner base of over two million people from over 100 countries, as well as over 300 university partners. It has offices in the United Kingdom, the United States, the Middle East, India, Singapore, and Vietnam, as well as a presence in a number of other countries. Source: Economic Times

Tredence Inc, a leading data science solutions provider, today announced the opening of delivery centres in Bengaluru, Gurugram, and Chennai, which will be operational by May 2022 and have a total capacity of 1400 seats. Through the new delivery centres, the company will provide advanced analytics, data engineering, and data science solutions to retail, CPG, TMT, industrial manufacturing, and healthcare clients around the world. Tredence has been expanding its Bengaluru, Chennai, and Gurugram offices by hiring engineering graduates, lateral recruits, and domain specialists. In the last year, the company has doubled its talent pool and now employs over 1600 people. This year, the company expects to hire another 500 people, increasing the total number of employees to nearly 2100 by the end of the year. The new centres, which use a hybrid flexible work model, can accommodate approximately 1400 employees, making them the company’s largest employee base. “Expanding our reach into new talent markets is a critical component of our growth plan. We plan to do so by constantly looking for top-tier talent in new regions and partnering with premier institutes like IIT Madras to focus on training and talent development. Through ASTHA (our hire, train and deploy model), we assist employees specializing in legacy technologies to modernize by providing them with data science and data engineering opportunities. Opening new offices and extending our presence in Bengaluru, Gurugram and Chennai is making strides in these directions,” said Shub Bhowmick, chief executive officer and co-founder of Tredence. “Expansion and addition of new India delivery centres signifies an exciting chapter for Tredence as we continue to build ground-breaking data science solutions for global industries. Setting up new delivery and talent centres in India reflects the momentum we are experiencing in the market and aligns with our growth imperatives. Bengaluru, Chennai and Gurugram offer a perfect springboard for tech companies looking to strengthen AI innovation and distributed agile delivery models,” said Harish Gudi, chief operating officer of Tredence. Beyond Possible is the company’s new brand identity and strategy, which reflects the company’s new go-to-market strategy and increasing emphasis on vertical-specific data science solutions.

The dearness allowance (DA) for Central government employees is finally being amended after more than a year and a half of delay. Following ratification by the Union Cabinet, the DA will increase by 3% beginning April 1, 2022. As a result, the DA for Central government employees would now be 34% of their base income. The dearness allowance is the government’s approach of assisting its employees in coping with rising prices and protecting them from inflation’s negative impacts. Employees’ DA fluctuates based on whether they live in metropolitan areas, semi-urban areas, or rural India, since the effect of inflation varies from place to place. All Central government employees and pensioners would benefit from the increase in DA and dearness relief (DR). The rise follows the formula suggested by the Seventh Central Pay Commission, and it goes without saying that it will put more strain on the government’s finances. Every year, more than Rs 9,000 crore will be spent on DA and DR payments. Over 47 lakh Central government employees and 68 lakh retirees will benefit from this. This increase had been postponed due to the pandemic. After a long interval, the DA and DR for Central government personnel were raised to 28 percent in July of last year, up from 17 percent previously. In October of last year, another three percent increase was announced, bringing the DA and DR to 31% of basic salary.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has ordered that the state government’s outstanding 20 percent arrears under the Seventh Pay Commission be cleared. Employees will now get the amount due along with their March 2022 wages. Previously, the unpaid amount according to the Seventh Pay Commission slab was cleared to the tune of 80%. The remaining 20%, which was owing to the almost four lakh government employees in Odisha, will now be cleared as well. A total of Rs 850 crore has been set aside in the supplementary budget for 2021-22 to help cover this cost. Odisha’s government began implementing the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission in January 2016. As a result, starting in September 2017, employees began earning raises in their pay. It was determined that the employees would be paid a 20-month rise in arrears in instalments from January 2014 to August 2018. According to the arrangement made at the time, 40% of the increased pay was paid in 2016-17, 10% in 2019-20, and 30% in 2021-22. Pensioners have also been paid in full. The state government increased dearness allowance (DA) by 3% in December 2021, benefiting about 7.5 lakh employees and pensioners. Junior teachers’ pay in Odisha government elementary schools were also increased by 50% in January of this year.

At this week’s Wings India airshow, Airbus, the European aircraft maker, is expected to announce job openings for high-end engineering and IT talent from India. It will be searching for people to fill positions in the areas of avionics software, aviation system simulation, and airframe. Cybersecurity, API development, full-stack development, big data, cloud and DevOps, and IoT all offer numerous opportunities. “India’s strength resides in its talent, ability to grow volume, and presence of possibly the greatest engineering and IT technology partner ecosystems in the world,” says Suraj Chettri, regional director – human resources, Airbus India & South Asia. Chettri said that the company will use Indian talent for its global programmes. Airbus now employs 7,000 people in India, with plans to hire 2,000 more engineers and IT professionals by the end of 2022. Airbus said in January that it would hire 6,000 people worldwide in the first quarter of 2022 throughout the entire Group, as well as conduct a mid-year appraisal to modify needs accordingly. A quarter of the recruiting will be devoted to finding employees with the capabilities needed to work on decarbonisation, digital transformation, and cyber technology. A third of the positions will be filled by recent graduates. Thierry Baril, Airbus’ chief human resources and workplace officer, stated that the company had stayed resilient throughout the Covid issue and that it plans to hire new talent in a variety of fields to help the company expand its operations as it emerges from the crisis.

Bharti Airtel (‘Airtel’) has improved its parental policy perks for employees as part of its effort to create a diverse and inclusive workplace. In addition to 26 weeks of maternity leave, the Indian communications solutions firm is also paying its returning female employees a special childcare payment of Rs 7,000 per month. This childcare allowance will be provided to them until the child reaches the age of 18 months. It will be granted even if the child is adopted. “We did so with the goal of developing a more diverse and inclusive workplace.” “We hope that this would encourage more women to continue working at Airtel as they progress through crucial life phases,” says Amrita Padda, Bharti Airtel’s chief people officer. New mothers can work for up to 24 weeks after maternity leave and return to active work at their own pace. This helps them to spend more time with the new born. But that’s not all. New mothers can also take two additional paid leave days for daycare per quarter. New fathers who are primary caregivers can take up to eight weeks of paternity leave under the enhanced parental policy. Airtel is proud of “making meaningful innovations that make a mark,” according to Padda. We need to stay ahead of the curve and examine our policies in order to further reinforce our workplace and work practices.”

Capgemini, a French technology company, has announced that by 2022, it’ll have hired 60,000 new employees in India. According to Ashwin Yardi, CEO, the recruitment drive was made possible by the growing need for digital-led solutions. Freshers and lateral talent will make up the new hires, with an emphasis on upcoming technologies like 5G and quantum. Capgemini employs 3,55,000 people, half of whom are based in India and work there. In partnership with Ericsson, Capgemini launched a 5G lab in India in 2021. In the last few months, this lab has gained a lot of traction. Aiman Ezzat, Capgemini’s group CEO, indicated last month that India will have a bigger role in overseeing the company’s operations in the coming months. He also stated that the company would focus on producing leaders in India, who would eventually be able to lead teams across the globe. The firm employs 100 account executives, all of whom are working toward becoming global account executives. It has also ordered the construction of new centres of excellence in India this year. The three technologies that will be major growth drivers for the Company in the future are quantum, 5G, and Metaverse. Capgemini is establishing labs to develop solutions for these technologies for its global customers. Source: Economic Times

Citi Commercial Bank (CCB), which serves mid-sized businesses in more than 60 countries, has announced plans to add 900 workers over the next three years, including over 400 commercial bankers. According to a press release from the company, the commercial bank would attain growth by hiring more people in developed and major emerging markets and using existing institutional infrastructure. “Citi Commercial Bank anticipates that the financial needs of this critical client segment will evolve, requiring the sophisticated banking solutions…” says the release. As a result, the bank is substantially investing in this sector, with the majority of new hiring centred in places where commercial activity is expected to go up, such as the United States, China, Brazil, India, and Western European countries. “In today’s interconnected world, mid-sized companies quickly outgrow the capabilities of a local or even a regional bank. They are going global faster and reaching scale sooner than ever before,” comments Tasnim Ghiawadwala, Global Head, Citi Commercial Bank. The commercial bank is focusing on deepening penetration in developing, high-growth disruptor sectors by recruiting industry specialist senior bankers and improving training and development for existing bankers, in addition to entering new markets and expanding its digital capabilities. “CCB will focus on deepening client relationships through investment in our bankers and digital channels and by providing multiple client touchpoints into the rest of Citi. My priority is to unleash the power of Citi to this client set with market share gains to follow,” Ghiawadwala mentioned.