April-2014 Forward to a Friend   Home   Editor's Note Development in the Staffing Space ISF in the News Resource Center Expert Advice Member's Exclusive Interview ISF Membership Updates Events and Updates Regional Update Insights from Mr. Kamal Karanth A Regional Chair - South (Indian Staffing Federation) How do you see south India as a market for the Flexible staffing growth? As a cluster, south India has 3 very large states which have high consumption and population. This has traditionally been a large market for telecom and FMCG companies to hire flexible staff. Also South India has many significant towns like Cochin, Trivandrum, Calicut, Coimbatore, Mysore, Mangalore, Hubli, Vizag, Vijayawada, Madurai, Pondicherry. These are Industrial towns by themselves and have lots of labour clusters. They also have been the growth engines of these states and aid in flexible staffing growth. The markets will continue to expand and the South India economic model is wholesome – TN, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala all lead with IT, Manufacturing, FMCG, Tourism leading sectors . Markets need to expand beyond the regular - Chennai, Bangalore, Cochin. Services sector is expanding BFSI, Health Services, Education have expanded with the exception of Telecom, BFSI, FMCG; all other sectors have not fully embraced contracting. Manufacturing has seen heart burns in IR at Coimbatore, Sriprunmbadur, hence the expansion for contracting has been slow paced. The Service Sector will be Growth Base! Bangalore and Hyderabad contribute hugely to IT staffing. IT companies have been the Early Adopters of Flexible Staffing Solutions and they have relatively high spend on Flexi staffing compared to non IT companies. Therefore it is right to say that in the $ 5 Billion Indian Staffing market, South India would have a very high share. Many Staffing companies have made South India their headquarters too which has given high visibility to the Flexi Staffing Industry besides generating additional direct employment. Companies like Adecco, Randstad, Allegis, Teamlease, Kelly, Focus Infotech, Artech, TMI have made South India their Headquarters. What are the challenges and gaps in terms of the labour environment in South India and how ISF as a staffing body can fill those gaps? The challenges faced are people choices about the nature job seekers want. The manufacturing labour landscape has been under tremendous stress, and even the recent happening in Bidaddi have not helped matters. The Mangalore SEZ and other SEZ have been slow off take. All new Green fields in Manufacturing have been small scale (1000-2000 plus) we do not have any major employment program going live essentially in the middle skills domain ( ITI | Diploma ,Fresh Engin) essentially in Manufacturing. ISF will need to work with stake holders like the state Government to establish industry standards towards engaging Contract workforces ISF could partner with Trade Union to provide the benefits of managing a healthy and a competitive labour landscape. ISF would need to work with Educational Institutes towards new job seekers , school leavers, ITI, Diploma, other graduates towards career and occupational counseling and may new ISF managed special training and skill development with apprenticeship programs. 1) Challenges in terms of labour perceived - Exploitation & Lack of Social Security 2) Challenges in terms of employers perceived - High Cost & inventory build-up, un-reliable partners 3) Challenges in terms of govt. perceived - Exploitation & Circumventing the labour law What will be ISF's plan of action in terms of increasing the voice in the southern part of the country? ISF wants to encourage more entrepreneurs in the Flexi staffing space. More members joining the ISF forum automatically increases ISF’s strength. We are constantly inviting Staffing companies to join the ISF movement. We would want to further work on extending our reach and connect with the industry to promote sustainable practices on the staffing front and help companies evolve . We would also want to engage more through platforms such as events, training programs and in the long run would want to set up a mechanism to address some of the teething regulatory issues faced by companies in southern India. Driving awareness amongst the contractual employee fraternity on their rights is an area we would want to focus on too. What will be ISF's plan of actions in terms of increasing the voice in the southern part of the country? Expand Membership to have small contracting services companies as members in ISF How do you define the roles of major staffing companies (ISF members) existing in south India? From a roles standpoint, we would want to believe that each of us is here to touch more lives, create more formal employment and contribute to the economy. As the demand for employment rises continuously, the responsibilities of any recruitment and staffing company increases with it trying to cater to the entire staffing value chain, this is good as it contributes to the eco system. The need is for everybody to be following the code of conduct set by ISF. Collectively engage with regulators and impress upon the ten point agenda that ISF is nationally advocating locally. Faster progress is possible if ISF is able to influence the state governments on key issues of labor that states could act upon. Which are the upcoming markets and trends for hiring in the southern region? The sectors that will drive growth are IT, Education and development/infrastructure. The new banking licenses will create more jobs in the sector and will benefit south India too. South India will continue to contribute to the IT staffing growth. Most IT companies preferring to have flexible staff to tide over the demand during boom and downturn is going to contribute to this growth. What are the major events and achievements from ISF perspective in south in the last 1 year? ISF had two membership drives in Bangalore and Chennai respectively. ISF continues to enroll members from South India continuously. ISF has the maximum members from South India. Our conclaves in Bangalore & Chennai saw over 200 paid attendees. The Bangalore Conclave on ‘Future of Employment’ gave us the opportunity to interact with Labor commissioner of Bangalore who graced the occasion and lauded our efforts on the initiative. The press also gave good response to the event by covering it generously. The Chennai Conclave of Freedom by Employment generated significant interest amongst our customers who actively participated in the debate and brought their perspectives on to the table. go to home Office Address: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn 771, 7th Floor, Aggarwal Millennium Tower II, E-4, Netaji Subhash Palace, District Centre Wazirpur, Pitampura, New Delhi 110 034. Phone: +91-11-3099 3037 Email: info@indianstaffing federation.org Read more.   © 2014 "Indiastaffingfederation" All Rights Reserved.