BANGALORE - Till a few months ago, IT professional T.V. George was earning Rs.70,000 per month, plus perks. But after losing his high-paying job, and being unemployed for three months, George, 31, has started giving tuitions in mathematics and physics to aspiring engineering students in his neighbourhood.
“Now, I am earning Rs.15,000 per month. It’s been hard. I got married only a few months before losing my job. So, when I lost my job, I was in a difficult position. Thankfully, I had some savings. With the savings, I am paying my rent and for a few other necessities,” George, who was employed with a top US IT company, told IANS.
“After losing my job, I tried my best to get a new job. But I remained unlucky. So to help run my home, I decided to give coaching classes to aspiring engineering students.”
George is not alone. Recession has hit the IT sector in Bangalore, with scores of techies losing their jobs. Some have been forced to take up low-paying jobs as they wait to bounce back when the recession ends.
Dipankar Dutta, 27, working with an Indian IT company as software engineer, lost his job almost eight months ago.
Today he has a job, but as a content writer in a tech firm.
“Thankfully, writing has been my forte. So, I landed this job of a content writer. Otherwise I would have been in a soup. Since I cannot afford to stay in Bangalore without a job, I compromised and settled for the new job with a much lower pay package,” said Dutta.
Scores of IT and ITES professionals in Bangalore have lost their jobs in recent times, an effect of the global economic meltdown. But there is no precise count of the numbers.
According to the latest employment and business outlook report by Bangalore-based staffing firm Teamlease, at 23 percent the attrition rate in this city is higher than in any other city in India.
The report was based on interviews with HR heads, CEOs and senior executives of 495 companies in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune.
“The city accounted for the highest attrition rate. IT accounts for over 80 percent of the city’s total labour pool. The attrition rate was 23 percent in the last quarter, against the previous quarter’s 16 percent. Much of the attrition could be involuntary attrition (or layoffs),” Teamlease general manager Surabhi Mathur-Gandhi said.
India’s Silicon Valley has seen thousands of people getting pink slips in recent months. And many more are under the threat of losing their jobs.
“It’s painful to lose your job, in today’s expensive world. Those who have lost their jobs are desperate now, thus they are settling for low paying jobs,” Karthik Shekhar, general secretary of UNITES-Professionals, an unrecognised union of IT/Call Centre/BPO employees, told IANS.
“Every day we meet young men and women who have lost their IT jobs recently. All they want is a job. But getting a job in the IT sector is very difficult. So, they have no option but to settle for jobs outside their fields and that too with low paying packages,” Shekhar added.
“It’s encouraging that today’s youths are ready to move ahead in their lives. Instead of waiting for the economy to revive, IT professionals have started exploring other fields and this is a positive sign,” said B.N. Gangadhar, professor of psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (Nimhans), Bangalore.
Mohammed Khan, a trained software engineer, told IANS: “Initially it was difficult, but I am happy with my choice. After losing my job with an IT firm, now I am working as a sales executive. I am hoping the economy will recover soon and all the techies who have lost their jobs will get new jobs in their field.”
(Maitreyee Boruah can be contacted at m.boruah@ians.in)
Related News
Oil reverses early losses, settles above $70 on strong stocks and weak dollarOctober 5th, 2009 Oil settles above $70 as stock markets climbOil prices pushed through early losses to settle above $70 a barrel Monday on the coat tails of strong equity markets and weakness in the U.S. dollar. "It still recognizes the favorable vibes that it's getting from the stock market, said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates.
Oil prices fall as unemployment rate hits 26-year high, sowing doubt about economy's reboundOctober 2nd, 2009 Jobs data send oil prices tumbling vbelow $70Oil prices tumbled Friday as unemployment hit a 26-year high, sowing more doubts about the strength of the economic recovery and crude demand. Benchmark crude for November delivery fell 87 cents a barrel to settle at $69.95 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Obama not ready to say recession is over, says jobs picture could worsen in coming monthsSeptember 20th, 2009 Obama not yet prepared to declare recession overWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama isn't ready to close the book on the recession. Only last week Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the worst recession since the 1930s was probably over.
CISF to protect techies, not intrude on their private spaceJuly 31st, 2009 BANGALORE - The ceremony to welcome the latest "entrants" to IT bellwether Infosys Technologies at its Electronic City campus here Friday was a grand one, with the company's co-founder, chairman and chief mentor N.R. Narayan Murthy himself doing the honours.
IT professionals of Bangalore have mixed feelings on budgetJuly 6th, 2009 BANGALORE - Youngsters in India's IT hub Bangalore, who have been hugely affected by the global economic recession due to large scale job losses and lack of newer employment opportunities, have expressed mixed feelings over Monday's union budget. If young professionals have expressed happiness on the increase in the income tax exemption limit and end of fringe benefit tax, they are dissatisfied over the budget not having given a clear cut indication to end job losses and generation of employment opportunities.
Slowdown side-effect: Bangalore IT philanthropists go missingJune 16th, 2009 BANGALORE - Call it the "side-effect" of the global economic slowdown: voluntary organisations in India's tech hub Bangalore are facing a tough time these days. Small non-profit organisations in the city, mostly run on donations made by IT professionals, say their funding is drying up on account of the economic slowdown.
US cuts fewer jobs in May, a sign recession is easingJune 5th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US companies shed only 345,000 jobs in May, the smallest drop in eight months and a sign that the US recession may be easing, but the unemployment rate still jumped half a percentage point to 9.4 percent, the Labour Department reported Friday. The US has now lost six million jobs since a deep recession began in December 2007, but the monthly data was far better than economists had predicted.
Bangalore's youth want 'winners' to performMay 16th, 2009 BANGALORE - With the Karnataka results out, the young voters of India's IT hub are impatient to see the winning candidates work for the overall development of the city. Of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, three are in the capital - Bangalore Central, Bangalore South and Bangalore North.
Jaffer Sharief defeated in Bangalore NorthMay 16th, 2009 BANGALORE - Congress veteran and former railways minister C.K. Jaffer Sharief lost to Congressman-turned Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee D.B.
'Pink-slipped', they think jobs, not votesApril 11th, 2009 BANGALORE - For hundreds of voters who have lost their jobs to the global meltdown - be it IT professionals or garment workers - the election tempo across India has little meaning. They are more concerned about landing a job at the earliest than to listen to the promises and slanging matches of political parties.
Hit by meltdown, Bangalore youths to vote for secure jobsMarch 25th, 2009 BANGALORE - As hundreds of young people graduating in engineering and management in India's IT hub feel the heat of the global financial meltdown, they are united on one issue - vote in the Lok Sabha polls and vote for those with the best economic recovery plan. With fewer job offers and lower compensation this year at the summer campus placements, talk among young Bangaloreans centres on the five-phase polls beginning April 16.
And now, techies to play 20-20 in IT hubFebruary 1st, 2009 BANGALORE - Techies in India's IT hub will play their version of 20-20 cricket in March to promote team spirit in the ICT (information, communication and technology) industry. 'The IT20 Indian League is a cricket tournament being held to support the ICT fraternity, protect its image and pay tribute to the industry's success in Karnataka in times of slowdown,' Principal Secretary M.
Americans in Bangalore raise a toast for new presidentJanuary 20th, 2009 BANGALORE - In small groups at upscale restaurants and pubs and in homes, around 6,000 US citizens living here raised a toast Tuesday night as Barack Hussein Obama took oath as 44th president of their country. While it was a chilly morning ceremony at Washington DC, it was a pleasant late evening in India's tech hub, making it a perfect setting for the Americans to clink their wine glasses to celebrate the historic moment of their country getting the first African American president.
Bangalore's Obama fan club could not make it to WashingtonJanuary 19th, 2009 BANGALORE - A group of techies in India's IT hub of Bangalore canvassed for Barack Obama through emails and SMSes during the election campaign last year, but they could not make it to Washington to witness his inauguration as they have projects to finish and deadlines to meet. Staying full 13,000 km away from Washington, they raised a few thousand dollars for his election campaign and took out rallies to inform fellow Bangaloreans on why he is good for India and the world.
Bangalore grannies' yummy pizzas help build old age homeJanuary 2nd, 2009 BANGALORE - Two grand old ladies of Bangalore have come to be known as pizza grannies. They serve yummy pizzas, for a cause - to build a home for the aged and to keep it running.
Loading ...