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If you and your clients were to be living 50 years from now and analyse the world in hindsight, one of the pioneering innovations would be the 'Internet'. Over a span of years, Internet has had a significant effect on civilisation as the printing press had and changed the way content gets produced and consumed. A 'digital marketplace' was born with this innovation. In tandem with this changing environment, the world of <keyword id="6354839" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="marketing">marketing</keyword> &amp; communication agencies changed drastically. We have seen an ecosystem built around it. In every country, there are the Davids, from the likes of SMEs and startups, and the Goliaths, the global giants who are increasing their footprint deeper &amp; wider across different service offerings in the field of communication. Digitisation brought a paradigm of change in behaviour and the need of brands. Cutting across fields of marketing, sales, HR and technology, these sectors evolved in this changing scenario. In this dynamic arena, Marketing and <keyword id="4708316" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="communication-agency-ecosystem">Communication Agency Ecosystem</keyword> is rapidly evolving from the shadows of the Goliaths. Marcomm agencies no longer want to be known as 'agencies', and are making a shift towards the 'consultant' positioning &amp; mindset. These 'consultants' are groping to develop an ecosystem that can deliver greater value amalgamating traditional and digital services. There was a clear division between consulting companies and fulfilment partners (the so-called 'agencies'), and also between outsourcing firms in the context of export of services. That divide is increasingly becoming narrower. Industry veterans, whether it is Sir Martin Sorell or Maurice Levy, both have been vocal on the subject of the changing role of agencies. Many established agencies have been doing the job of consulting and helping brands grow for years now, however, they aren't necessarily remunerated for the same. On the other hand, consulting companies, apart from formulating strategies, have been doing agency work as well; they developed full-fledged delivery teams in-house. Another competition in the same segment is from the BPOs. With digital becoming stronger to drive business, BPOs are fast reshaping their business. And a way forward leads to digital services. Whoever wins on this front, gets the business correct. Clients are now looking for a one-stop shop for <keyword id="618493" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="digital-marketing">digital marketing</keyword> (search, mobile, social), content marketing (content production, distribution/amplification, influencer engagement), technology (website, app, cloud solution builders), public relations (digital &amp; offline PR), and analytics (web metrics to business matrix). In such a scenario, Davids and Goliaths come to a level-playing field in the competition. If we were to apply Moore's law, it would point out the fact that a lot has changed in the last five years than the first 100 years of digitisation. Running at this pace, more will change in the next 12 months than the past five years, to say the least. This change is happening across the business landscape, changing the way clients approach their problems, the way brand building is done, and perceptions managed. As a result, a plethora of opportunities becomes available for the Goliaths - marketing agencies, communication agencies, big global consulting and professional services companies, the BPO’s &amp; <keyword id="76748" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="KPO">KPO</keyword>’s. Though these Goliaths have a huge client base and enough resources, what they do lack is pace to change with the times. On the other hand comes the Davids with humble &amp; specialised beginnings, energy &amp; agility with experience in niche &amp; a desire to challenge Goliaths. In today's consumer business environment, Davids, the Startup community and SME's of the marketing communication industry have different challenges in front of them, and the only way is to be agile, sharper &amp; faster. It’s not surprising in this scenario that a digital Goliath, with services of an agency, mindset of a consultant arose in the digital marketplace, trying to catch up and compete. However, the biggest and the only problem with this changing face of the many Goliaths, is the sheer vastness of services. Content, Technology, Analytics and CRM are just a few of the areas that agencies must be proficient in, besides the regular activities of media planning &amp; buying, social media management, influencer engagement, etc. Clients not only look to communications companies and experts to provide solutions for their marketing problems, but also help them fix their most pressing business problems as well. Proficiency in such matters requires being able to hire the right heads for it. Digital technology opened the floodgates to so many opportunities that no one could walk through them all. It became imperative to remember that the race was never about which agency offers the longest list of services; but about how companies can be better equipped in this dynamic landscape. To be ready to take on clients’ business challenges, one way forward is increased specialisation and integration. Fortunately, there is an existing model that marcomms consultancies can use to get the most productivity out of digital technology. With the changing face of Goliath, a change in approaching the industry, going for a solution-oriented approach and using the best mix of traditional and digital components is required. For instance, SMEs are not only providing content or media solutions to their multinational clients but are also building their understanding of Indian markets and giving business solution. What suits the status quo are services of an agency but the thought process and business insight of a consultant mind. Nonetheless, in the midst of an ever-changing landscape, we must not deviate from the constant truth of high creativity leading to great business success. (The article is authored by Ritesh Singh, CEO and MD, ARM Worldwide.)

David and the changing face of Goliath

India's biggest tax reform, the <keyword id="6359833" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="goods-and-services-tax" source="Orion">Goods and Services Tax</keyword> (<keyword id="6354679" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gst" source="Orion">GST</keyword>), completes its half-a-decade journey on June 30, with many hits and some misses, and also brought about a paradigm shift in use of technology to bring about tax compliance and making over Rs 1 lakh crore revenue collection every month 'a new normal'. A nationwide Goods and Services Tax (GST), which subsumed 17 local levies like excise duty, <keyword id="6355686" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="service-tax" source="Orion">service tax</keyword> and <keyword id="6370857" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="vat" source="Orion">VAT</keyword> and 13 cesses, was rolled out at the stroke of midnight on July 1, 2017. Under GST, a four-rate structure that exempts or imposes a low rate of tax of 5 per cent on essential items and top rate of 28 per cent on cars is levied. The other slabs of tax are 12 and 18 per cent. In the pre-GST era, the total of VAT, excise, CST and their cascading effect led to 31 per cent as tax payable, on an average, for a consumer. Besides, there is a special 3 per cent rate for gold, jewellery and precious stones and 1.5 per cent on cut and polished diamonds. Besides, a cess is levied on the highest tax slab of 28 per cent on luxury, sin and demerit goods. The collection from the cess goes to a separate corpus — Compensation fund — which is used to make up for revenue loss suffered by the state due to GST rollout. GST also represents an unprecedented exercise in fiscal federalism as the Centre and states come together in the GST Council to thrash out modalities for smooth functioning of the relatively new tax regime. The Council has met 47 times so far and have taken measures which made Rs 1 lakh crore <keyword id="4943720" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gst-collection" source="Orion">GST collection</keyword> per month 'a new normal' and on course to take the figure to Rs 1.4 lakh crore every month. As the government releases the June GST collection numbers on July 1, it is widely expected that the collections will follow the past four months' trend and be around Rs 1.4 lakh crore. The collections had touched a record Rs 1.68 lakh crore in April 2022, it had for the first time crossed Rs 1 lakh crore mark in collections in April, 2018. On the 5th anniversary of GST, <keyword id="4336899" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Central-Board-of-Indirect-Taxes-and-Customs" source="Orion">Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs</keyword> (CBIC) tweeted "GST subsumed multiple levies and cesses, reduced compliance burden, removed regional imbalances and inter-state barriers, and significantly increased the transparency and overall Revenue collection". Over the past years the Government has been proactively issuing circulars and clarifications to clear doubts regarding taxation under GST and ensure ease of doing business. More recently, the GST Council, in its 47th meeting in Chandigarh, has decided to ease compliance for small taxpayers who supply through the e-commerce platform. Such suppliers, who make only intra-state supplies, need not seek GST registration if their annual turnover is less than Rs 40 lakh in case of goods and Rs 20 lakh in case of supplies. To help tax officers in administration, GST Network, which provides the technological backbone for the indirect tax regime, has been using artificial intelligence and machine learning to dish out newer data and plug revenue leakages. Tax experts, however, seek a simpler structure for Goods and Services Tax, a structure which would ensure seamless flow of input tax credit through the entire supply chain without losses. BDO India Partner and Leader - Indirect Tax Gunjan Prabhakaran said “over the past five years, the GST law has evolved and mitigated several issues faced by the taxpayers through timely clarifications and amendments. "However, the GST Council and the Government should quickly address few other hardships faced by taxpayers in relation to unwarranted and excessive issuance of show cause notices (for reconciliations of financial numbers, grant of registration, etc) and introduce a robust, technology driven single assessment process, which would achieve the twin objective of ease of doing business and remove the cascading effect of taxes". AMRG &amp; Associates Senior Partner Rajat Mohan said in the last five years, GST law has matured at a fast pace. First, the focus was on compliance and technology; sooner than later, it moved gears, and taxpayers were posed to self-regulate the annual filings. "Now it seems the law has entered the next phase whereby litigation needs to be reduced by either replacing ambiguous tax laws or clarifying the practical application of technical issues. Businesses expect the government to resolve all sectoral issues like would BPO/KPO qualify as an intermediary, tax credit for capital expenditure on building, levy of GST on Extra Neutral alcohol (ENA) etc," Mohan said. While the GST administration has moved forward with alacrity, it is still a long way to go to achieve the full potential of GST and make it a true 'good and simple tax'. With petrol, diesel, ATF outside GST, a large part of the economy is still not covered by the indirect tax regime. Inclusion of petroleum products under the GST net, could reduce cost for companies, tax experts say. With emerging technology, there is emergence of newer asset classes like the virtual digital assets (VDA) or cryptocurrency. There is a need for clarity on whether they would be classified as supply of 'goods' or 'services' and what would be the tax rate on them. Tax rate rationalisation is something which would happen sooner or later. Current inflationary concerns may have derailed the plans to tweak rates and GST slabs, but it would eventually be a reality as both the Centre and states need revenues and lesser slabs would mean a simplified tax regime. Besides, the decision makers in the Council too have to work out a solution as state governments, from July 1, 2022, stare at a stoppage of compensation for revenue loss due to GST implementation. When GST was rolled out on July 1, 2017, states were promised a compensation, from the cess fund, for five years if their GST collection falls short of the 14 per cent compounded revenue growth. Most states have sought an extension to the compensation mechanism and a final decision is likely to be taken at the next GST Council meeting in Madurai in the first week of August. Abhishek Jain, Partner Indirect Tax, KPMG in India, said going forward, the Government can consider setting up of Central authority to resolve conflicting AAR judgements across states and consider doing away with anti-profiteering provisions freeing businesses to set prices. "Further, bringing petroleum and electricity under GST ambit will help prevent cascading and ensure further uniformity. Lastly, some checks can also be incorporated on system generated GST notices, so as to avoid any unnecessary harassment of taxpayers," Jain said. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/startups-like-unacademy-vedantu-blue-stone-caratlane-go-physical-from-digital-as-pandemic-boom-ends/articleshow/92564319.cms">Startups go physical from digital as pandemic boom ends</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/indian-credit-card-users-spend-40x-more-than-debit-card-users-online/articleshow/92543305.cms">Indian credit card users spend 40x more than debit card users online</a>

GST had its hits and misses but made ₹1.3 lakh crore monthly tax, the new normal

Mumbai, May 6 () The nationwide lockdown due to the spread of COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in 62 per cent decline in hiring activities in April compared to the same month last year, according to a report. Hiring activities dropped to 951 last month from 2,477 in April 2019, according to the Naukri JobSpeak Index. The April 2020 decline in hiring is led by sectors like hotel/restaurant/travel/airlines (-91 per cent), auto/ancillary (-82 per cent), retail (-77 per cent) and accounting/finance (-70 per cent). The Naukri JobSpeak is a monthly Index which calculates and records hiring activity based on job listings on Naukri.com website. New jobs for professionals in the ticketing/travel/airlines, hotel/restaurants and HR/administration sectors witnessed a dip of 95 per cent, 89 per cent and 78 per cent, respectively. Functional roles in purchase/supply chain (-70 per cent), marketing/advertising (-69 per cent), sales/business development (-69 per cent) and accounts/finance (-68 per cent) also witnessed a steep decline. However, new jobs for professionals in the IT-software (-51 per cent), BPO/ITES/KPO (-54 per cent) pharma/biotech/healthcare (-57 per cent) and teaching/education (-56 per cent) sectors were less impacted as compared to other sectors in April 2020. The job market across cities registered a double-digit dip in hiring mainly led by metros where Delhi dipped by 70 per cent followed by Chennai (-62 per cent), Kolkata (-60 per cent) and Mumbai (-60 per cent). There was an across the board decline in hiring at varied experience levels with the entry-level experience bands (0 to 3 years) witnessing the sharpest decline of 67 per cent. "The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact the hiring activities leading to a 62 per cent decline in April' 2020. While hotel/restaurant/travel/airlines have been significantly impacted, industries like IT-software/software services, pharma/biotech/clinical research and insurance have been less impacted," Naukri.com Chief Business Officer Pawan Goyal added. SM MRMR

Hiring during April dips by 62% due to lockdown to curb COVID-19: Report

<ul><li>Corporate India is stepping up its efforts to address <keyword id="8438313" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="gender-gap-at-workplaces">gender gap at workplaces</keyword>. </li><li>The <keyword id="7051312" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="female-employability">female employability</keyword> increased by 9% in the last two years. </li><li>Employability among men and women is also at par. The gender-wise employability stood at 46% and 48% for men and women, respectively. </li></ul>Women in India are just as good as men to get jobs but important sectors like automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare are still not hiring enough females in their workforce. The female employability has risen 9% in the last two years. According to a report titled ‘India Skills Report 2020,’ the <keyword id="3214497" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Female-Employment">female employment</keyword> in India stood at 47% in 2019, up against 38% in 2017. The gender-wise employability stood at 46% and 47% for men and women, respectively. However, India is among the 10 countries that have the lowest female labour force participation rate. Not just that, women <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/more-women-are-drawing-salaries-in-india-but-the-gender-pay-gap-persists/articleshow/72236452.cms">also get paid less </a>for the same jobs as compared to men. “The increase in the number of job-ready women presents an opportunity for India Inc to harness their talent and engage more women in jobs as this is the most essential step in filling the skill gaps in the country,” said the report. The survey highlights that the lowest women contribution is in the automotive and healthcare sectors. While BPO, KPO, IT and BFSI (Banking, Financial Services &amp; Insurance) sectors projected the highest contribution by women at over 30%. But there are other sectors where female participation is abysmally low. 
 
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 Going forward, corporates do intend to hire more women but still the ratio is unfairly skewed 71:29 in favour of men. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/more-women-are-drawing-salaries-in-india-but-the-gender-pay-gap-persists/articleshow/72236452.cms">More women are drawing salaries in India but the gender pay gap persists</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/only-15-of-women-in-indian-boardrooms-new-study-says-its-the-third-lowest-in-asia-pacific/articleshow/71534761.cms">Only 15% of women in Indian boardrooms — new study says it’s the third lowest in Asia Pacific</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/fewer-indian-women-are-working-in-spite-of-companies-trying-hard-to-improve-diversity/articleshow/71938045.cms">Fewer Indian women are working in spite of companies trying hard to improve diversity</a>

The number of employable Indian women has sharply risen in the last two years⁠— and it is nearly at par with men

<ul><li>Hit by COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown, India saw a 62% decline in job hiring in the month of April.</li><li>Hotel, restaurant, travel, airlines industries saw a massive 90% drop in hiring activity than the same month last year.</li><li>The job market across cities registered a double-digit dip in hiring.</li></ul>Hit by COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown, India saw a 62 per cent decline in job hiring in the month of April, led by hotel/restaurant/travel/airlines industries that saw a massive -90 per cent less hiring activity than the same month last year, a new report said on Wednesday. The aviation and hospitality industries were followed by auto/ancillary (-82 per cent), retail (-77 per cent) and accounting/finance (-70 per cent), according to <keyword id="4078822" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Naukri-JobSpeak-index">Naukri JobSpeak Index</keyword>. The job market across cities registered a double-digit dip in hiring. The decline was led by metros, wherein Delhi declined by 70 per cent followed by Chennai (-62 per cent), Kolkata (-60 per cent) and Mumbai (-60 per cent ). There was an across-the-board decline in hiring at varied experience levels with the entry-level experience bands (0 to 3 yrs exp) witnessing the sharpest decline of 67 per cent. "On the jobseeker front, we are prioritizing access and discovery of recently ï¿½laid off and immediately available to join' <keyword id="6515789" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jobseekers">jobseekers</keyword> to the recruiters. Also, there is a complete guide on career progression during these tough times with upskilling courses, hiring insights, CV assessment tools etc," informed Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com. Hiring activity in pharma/biotech/clinical research (-54 per cent), IT-software/software services (-49 per cent) and insurance (-42 per cent) was less impacted as compared to other industries in April. New jobs for professionals in the ticketing/travel/airlines, hotel/restaurants and HR/administration sectors witnessed a dip of 95 per cent, 89 per cent and 78 per cent, respectively. However, new jobs for professionals in the IT-software (-51 per cent), BPO/ITES/KPO (-54 per cent), pharma/biotech/healthcare (-57 per cent) and teaching/education (-56 per cent) sectors were less impacted as compared to other sectors in April. The middle management roles (8-12 years' experience) roles declined by 55 per cent, senior management roles (13-16 years' experience) declined by 53 per cent and leadership roles (16+ years' experience) declined by 50 per cent. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/while-the-spanish-learnt-the-piano-online-indians-went-for-communication-skills-during-lockdown/articleshow/75555660.cms">While the Spanish learnt the piano online, Indians went for communication skills during lockdown</a>

India saw a 62% decline in hiring in April, says Naukri report

New Delhi, Dec 9 () India is expected to witness a marginal 7 per cent rise in job creation in the October-March period of this financial year, as subdued economic conditions have dampened employment outlook, a report said on Monday.
 According to TeamLease's bi-annual Employment Outlook Report for HY2 2019, economic reforms lifted the spirits for seven of the 19 sectors surveyed, while nine sectors reported a decrease in their outlook for October-March period of this fiscal.
 India will witness a 7.12 per cent increase in job creation in the current half year (October-March, 2019-20), it said.
 Positive hiring outlook was reported in sectors like healthcare &amp; pharmaceuticals, information technology, e-commerce and tech start-ups, educational services, KPO, power and energy, and logistics.
 The sectors that are expected to witness decrease in hiring include manufacturing, engineering and infrastructure, construction and real estate, financial services, retail, BPO/ITeS, telecommunications, travel and hospitality, FMCG and agriculture and agrochemicals.
 "Though the lowering of the GDP growth projection seems to have dampened the net employment outlook in some of the sectors, the job creation across sectors is on a growth trajectory," TeamLease Services co-founder &amp; Executive Vice President Rituparna Chakraborty said. 
 She further noted that "8 out of the 19 sectors are expected to witness a double digit rise in job creation. Logistics and educational services alone will add 14.36 per cent more jobs during the period October-March, 2019-20 indicating the dip in the net employment outlook to be more of a passing phase."
 While Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurgaon, Kolkata indicated positive sentiment, Indore, Coimbatore, Ahmedabad, Kochi and Nagpur exhibited varying levels of negative sentiment for October-March 2019-20 period compared to April-September 2019-20.
 As per the report, global markets witnessed a drop in net employment outlook for the October-March period. 
 Europe saw the most significant drop in net employment outlook, followed by Africa and the Americas.
 The Middle East (no change) and APAC (up 1 per cent) weathered global headwinds and stayed strong, the report said.
 TeamLease Employment Outlook analyses functional and environmental aspects across 19 sectors and 14 geographies to provide an in-depth insight into the hiring sentiments. 
 It surveyed 744 enterprises of various sizes (small, medium and large) in India and 76 employers across the globe to evaluate employment outlook trends. DRR RVK

India to witness 7.12 pc rise in job creation in Oct-Mar: TeamLease report

The Indian job market is a paradox. While unemployment in the country has snowballed into a crisis, a large number of organisations are facing dearth of employable candidates. To fill the gap, multinational companies in India are taking the route of <keyword id="1045729" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="employability-tests">employability tests</keyword> to filter candidates based on the scores. Here are top national employability tests that can help you land a job, even without experience: 1. AMCAT Exam Fee: ₹1,298 Score Validity: 1 year Aspiring Minds' Computer Adaptive Test (AMCAT) is conducted by assessment firm Aspiring Minds. The test is focussed to assess fresher skills for entry-level jobs — that require no prior experience. Over 1,000 companies accept AMCAT scores for freshers’ employment, including Snapdeal, ITC, Axis Bank and Accenture among others. The test includes assessment of communication skills, logical reasoning, quantitative skills and job specific domain skills. 2. CoCubes Exam Fee: ₹1,500 Score Validity: 1 Year CoCubes by Aon is a corporate assessment test to hire candidates across locations, right from the campus. The assessment company has a collaboration with universities as well as companies across sectors — IT products and services, Knowledge Processing Outsourcing (KPO) companies. The test includes three sections — aptitude domain specific test computer fundamentals, programming capabilities, personality traits. aptitude section also consists of quantitative, verbal ability and logical reasoning section and the technical section consists of complexity, C-language, computer networks and database management systems. 3. eLitmus Exam Fee: ₹920 Score Validity: 2 years eLitmus PH (Hiring Potential) test is one of the oldest employability tests for IT jobs in India. The 600 marks test includes assessment of problem solving and reasoning, quantitative aptitude and verbal ability. McAfee, IBM, Collabera, Novell, CGI, Accenture, ITC Infotech, HCL Technologies, Mindtree are some of the companies that hire via eLitmus test. 4. MET (Mettl Employability Test) Exam Fee: ₹299 Score Validity: 1 year Mettl Employability Test also evaluates student’s communication skills, logical reasoning, quantitative skills and job-specific domain-skills. It has over 700 partnered recruiters. Oyo, Cisco, Make My Trip (MMT) are some of the companies that accept MET scores. 5. CEAT Exam Fee: ₹599 Score Validity: 1 Year Corporate Employability Assessment Test (CEAT) is conducted by FreshersWorld to evaluate aptitude, technical skills and communication skills of candidates. The technical test includes knowledge of C , C++, .NET, Java, Database, Networking, PHP, and Software Testing. It is an online assessment test, which can be taken from anywhere at any point in time.

Here’s a list of employability tests that help freshers land a job

The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=IIM">Indian Institute of Management</a>, Calcutta (IIMC) has marked a milestone yet again with the placement for its one-year program for executives getting a boost of 24.8% in top salary offer, which was Rs 33.7 lakh a year ago. 
 
As per the statement issued by the prestigious institution, the average salary offer for the eighth batch has also amplified and has seen a rise of 21.6% as compared to Rs 22.69 lakh that was offered last year. 
 
The media reports have suggested that a total of 55 companies made 54 offers to 44 contenders, among which, three chose to join their pervious organisation and one decided to quit. The offers, as stated in the reports, were for mid-management to senior-management level of jobs . 
 
The companies that participated in the appointment process includes <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Accenture">Accenture</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Amazon">Amazon</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Dell">Dell</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Microsoft">Microsoft</a>, Google, Ford Motors (IT), <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Snapdeal">Snapdeal</a>, Atos Consulting, <keyword id="6358918" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Deloitte">Deloitte</keyword> Touche, Oracle, CESC, Omni Active and Micromax. 
 
Among the major participants, IT/consulting and IT products dominated the entire placement process with 12 and 10 offers each. The eCommerce firms, however, managed to made only 8 offers. 
 
Real estate, BPO, KPO, power and analytics firms are among the sectors that also hired aggressively. 
 Rajiv Kumar, chairperson, career development &amp; placement office at <keyword id="78512" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="IIM-Calcutta">IIM Calcutta</keyword> said, "As the placement statistics show, industry seems to increasingly prize such talented and committed people.” 
 
“The senior roles that the students of graduating batch have bagged convey the confidence industry has posed in the ability of PGPEX students of IIM Calcutta to contribute toward organisational growth," said Kumar. 
 
PGPEX (Post Graduate Programme for Executives) is IIM Calcutta's one year residential program for executives. It gives mid-career professionals the ideal platform to augment their existing skill sets as they endeavour to armour themselves for senior and top management roles in the industry. 
<a href="http://www.childrenandyouth.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/confident-child.jpg">Image source </a>

IIM Calcutta students offered 25% increase in salaries this year

The USD 143 billion primarily export-driven IT/ITeS sector is currently going through a fundamental shift due to increasing commoditization of traditional services, changing the geopolitical discourse on globalization, start-up firings, and adoption of automation technologies that may negatively impact low skilled jobs in the short to medium term. 
 <keyword id="824043" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Business-Insider">Business Insider</keyword> got in touch with Abhishek Sen, Director &amp; Industry Lead IT &amp; ITeS, <keyword id="6462982" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aon-Hewitt">Aon Hewitt</keyword> and he said,“The Indian Tech and BPO industry has a significant dependency on the US market for its service export revenue. The current changes in the <keyword id="48028" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="US-government">US Government</keyword> and the proposed changes to the immigration policy could have an impact on the <keyword id="1645574" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-technology-services">Indian Technology Services</keyword> business especially due to a proposed increase of salaries for certain categories of visa holders. This has created a cautious sentiment in the industry. However, this is not the only reason for organizations taking a relook at talent strategies. With digital and automation becoming a strong need in businesses going forward, talent-heavy service delivery models are being rethought and a push to reskill talent has started in India. All these aspects, together with slow moving and changing Industry demand has driven organizations to rethink people strategies and people cost.” 
 With protectionist <keyword id="6354862" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Trump">Trump</keyword> administration going bullish on fulfilling their election promise about producing locally and creating jobs, the Indian IT and ITeS industries, which draw a major part of their earnings 60% and upwards from the US market, will suffer if US companies reduce their outsourcing spends. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/meru-reduced-prices-in-delhi-ncr-to-compete-with-uber-and-ola/articleshow/57493028.cms">ALSO READ: Meru reduced prices in Delhi NCR to compete with Uber and Ola and this is how much it will cost to travel from Airport to Connaught place</a> 
 
According to Aon Hewitt’s 21st India Annual Salary Increase Survey, the IT-BPM industry’s growth projections for 2016-17 has seen a markdown to 8-10% from its earlier projections of 10-12%. Hiring in this sector is projected to see a drop by 20% in 2017 in continuation with the downward hiring trend since 2016. 
 
In India, the growth forecast for the current (2016–17) and next fiscal year was trimmed down to 6.6 percentage point and 7.2 percentage point, respectively, primarily due to the temporary negative consumption shock induced by cash shortages and payment disruptions associated with the recent currency note withdrawal and exchange initiative. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/the-us-presidents-take-vacations-here-and-you-could-too/articleshow/57448795.cms">ALSO READ: The US Presidents take vacations here and you could too</a> 
 The <keyword id="4128387" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Union-Budget-2017">Union Budget 2017</keyword> had specifically looked into the demand from the IT-BPM sector with tax deducted at source (TDS) on payments to call centers have been reduced from 10% to 2%. This will improve the working capital situation and potentially support the all <keyword id="54324" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="india-business">India Business</keyword> process outsourcing (BPO) Support scheme of the Government, where cos are setting up in Tier 2/3 locations. Unfortunately, all other software transactions continue to be subject to 10% TDS, despite Industry demand for lower TDS. 
 
Key Talent &amp; Reward trends 
The actual overall salary increase for 2016 is at 10.2% and the 2017 projections have seen a dip to 9.9% in this period of uncertainty. Riding on this wave, the 2017 projections have seen a downward trend across all sub-industries with KPO’s at 11.5%, Third Party Service Providers at 8.5%, BFSI and other captives at 10.0%. 
 
The top to average performer salary differentiation is 1.75X. The overall attrition is at 17.2% for ITES with BFSI Captives being the lowest at 14.1% and Third Party Service Providers facing the highest attrition at 23.7%. 
 
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As the global story unfolds, ITES industry is in midst of a Digital transformation wave. It is largely about the opportunity to transform customer experiences and business models and less about the technology. Indeed, as the toolset for digital transformation expands beyond the original set of social, mobile, analytics and cloud (SMAC) technologies to include artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cognitive computing, success will be increasingly about the integrated deployment of several technologies as opposed to simply deploying one tool. Of equal importance is the increasing recognition that digital transformation has to embrace more than just cost reduction and requires a focus on breaking down silos. Consequently, it is expected that organizations with higher levels of process maturity will be more likely to succeed with digital transformation.

The Indian IT and ITeS industries’ salaries will suffer due to US Gov’s trade policies this year

The BPO and Aviation sector had ushered in a new kind of recruitment. It used to hire people in large numbers and the recruitment process used to be quick, thanks to the cut-throat competition and mushrooming of companies all across the country. Following the same suit, the new entrant is eCommerce startup. 
 
As per a news report by The Economic Times, the recruitment teams of startups and ecommerce firms consist of information technology specialists, analysts, marketing professionals and staffing heads who previously hired in large numbers for the BPO and aviation sectors. 
"Competition is so fierce that positions have to be closed in 3 weeks as compared to a turnaround time of three months in other industries. Diversity of profiles, sheer volume and pace is the challenge," Saurabh Nigam, VP (HR) of Snapdeal told the ET. 
 
Snapdeal, now four times the size it was a year ago in terms of staff strength, has a recruitment team which is divided according to profiles like technology, supply chain, and customer support. 
 
The tech recruitment team at Snapdeal has 35 employees who are former employees of companies like Microsoft and Adobe. 
Those from DHL and shipping companies look at supply chain openings and recruiters with BPO and KPO experience have been hired to take care of customer support posts. 
 
To ensure they remain motivated and hire the best candidate, some firms have even created special incentives for their recruitment teams. To encourage aggressive strategies, companies such as TinyOwl Technology and Knowlarity have decided to incentivise their recruitment team. 
 
Last quarter, TinyOwl announced that for every candidate placed exclusively by the team of 10, there will be monetary rewards over and above salary and variable pay. "In one quarter the turnaround time dropped by 25-30%. This will keep the firm motivated to work within the budget and get 300 more on board," Tanuj Khandelwal, co-founder told the financial daily. 
Online restaurant locator, Zomato for example, will hire 10 more recruiters to their team of 25, while ShopClues is looking forward to another six to seven appointments to add to their team of 10 and is exploring role enlargement and expansion for key performers, Sanjay Sethi, co-founder and CEO, said to the ET. 
 
"Our HR team is incentivised with quarterly incentive programmes based on hiring targets," he adds. The company is planning to double its staff strength from the current 700 to around 1,500 by March next year. 
 
Then there are others like Jombay who prefer their business leader to do the hiring and not depend on recruitment teams. "The business heads speak the language, they are the face of the teams and hire with support from staff," Mohit Gundecha, CEO and founder told the financial daily. 
 
In some cases, the bosses decide to get into the game. A third of Snapdeal's hiring is through social media with founder Kunal Bahl posting key openings through platforms like Twitter. 
 
(Image: Reuters)

​Ecommerce is competitive. Even when it comes to recruitment

If you and your clients were to be living 50 years from now and analyse the world in hindsight, one of the pioneering innovations would be the '<keyword id="6357247" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Internet">Internet</keyword>'. Over a span of years, Internet has had a significant effect on civilisation as the printing press had and changed the way content gets produced and consumed. A 'digital marketplace' was born with this innovation. In tandem with this changing environment, the world of marketing &amp; communication agencies changed drastically. We have seen an ecosystem built around it. In every country, there are the Davids, from the likes of SMEs and startups, and the Goliaths, the global giants who are increasing their footprint deeper &amp; wider across different service offerings in the field of communication. <keyword id="6357550" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Digitisation">Digitisation</keyword> brought a paradigm of change in behaviour and the need of brands. Cutting across fields of marketing, sales, HR and technology, these sectors evolved in this changing scenario. In this dynamic arena, <keyword id="4641659" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Marketing-and-Communication-Agency-Ecosystem">Marketing and Communication Agency Ecosystem</keyword> is rapidly evolving from the shadows of the Goliaths. Marcomm agencies no longer want to be known as 'agencies', and are making a shift towards the 'consultant' positioning &amp; mindset. These 'consultants' are groping to develop an ecosystem that can deliver greater value amalgamating traditional and digital services. There was a clear division between consulting companies and fulfilment partners (the so-called 'agencies'), and also between outsourcing firms in the context of export of services. That divide is increasingly becoming narrower. Industry veterans, whether it is Sir Martin Sorell or Maurice Levy, both have been vocal on the subject of the changing role of agencies. Many established agencies have been doing the job of consulting and helping brands grow for years now, however, they aren't necessarily remunerated for the same. On the other hand, consulting companies, apart from formulating strategies, have been doing agency work as well; they developed full-fledged delivery teams in-house. Another competition in the same segment is from the BPOs. With digital becoming stronger to drive business, BPOs are fast reshaping their business. And a way forward leads to digital services. Whoever wins on this front, gets the business correct. Clients are now looking for a one-stop shop for digital marketing (search, mobile, social), content marketing (content production, distribution/amplification, influencer engagement), technology (website, app, cloud solution builders), public relations (digital &amp; offline PR), and analytics (web metrics to business matrix). In such a scenario, Davids and Goliaths come to a level-playing field in the competition. If we were to apply <keyword id="639298" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Moores-Law">Moore's law</keyword>, it would point out the fact that a lot has changed in the last five years than the first 100 years of digitisation. Running at this pace, more will change in the next 12 months than the past five years, to say the least. This change is happening across the business landscape, changing the way clients approach their problems, the way brand building is done, and perceptions managed. As a result, a plethora of opportunities becomes available for the Goliaths - marketing agencies, communication agencies, big global consulting and professional services companies, the BPO’s &amp; KPO’s. Though these Goliaths have a huge client base and enough resources, what they do lack is pace to change with the times. On the other hand comes the Davids with humble &amp; specialised beginnings, energy &amp; agility with experience in niche &amp; a desire to challenge Goliaths. In today's consumer business environment, Davids, the Startup community and SME's of the marketing communication industry have different challenges in front of them, and the only way is to be agile, sharper &amp; faster. It’s not surprising in this scenario that a digital <keyword id="244739" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Goliath">Goliath</keyword>, with services of an agency, mindset of a consultant arose in the digital marketplace, trying to catch up and compete. However, the biggest and the only problem with this changing face of the many Goliaths, is the sheer vastness of services. Content, Technology, Analytics and CRM are just a few of the areas that agencies must be proficient in, besides the regular activities of media planning &amp; buying, social media management, influencer engagement, etc. Clients not only look to communications companies and experts to provide solutions for their marketing problems, but also help them fix their most pressing business problems as well. Proficiency in such matters requires being able to hire the right heads for it. Digital technology opened the floodgates to so many opportunities that no one could walk through them all. It became imperative to remember that the race was never about which agency offers the longest list of services; but about how companies can be better equipped in this dynamic landscape. To be ready to take on clients’ business challenges, one way forward is increased specialisation and integration. Fortunately, there is an existing model that marcomms consultancies can use to get the most productivity out of digital technology. With the changing face of Goliath, a change in approaching the industry, going for a solution-oriented approach and using the best mix of traditional and digital components is required. For instance, SMEs are not only providing content or media solutions to their multinational clients but are also building their understanding of Indian markets and giving business solution. What suits the status quo are services of an agency but the thought process and business insight of a consultant mind. Nonetheless, in the midst of an ever-changing landscape, we must not deviate from the constant truth of high creativity leading to great business success. (Image Credits: Flickr) (About the Author: This article has been authored by Ritesh Singh, Co-founder and MD, #ARM Worldwide)

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