Business

New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS) As Microsoft begins job cuts, affected employees have started looking for new jobs on LinkedIn, and among those impacted is an Indian-origin worker in the US who says "she is on visa and have limited time".

Harshita Jhavar, a data and applied scientist at Microsoft, who spent four years in the company in Washington, writes in her LinkedIn post, "I am affected by the layoffs at Microsoft today. Many teams from the hardware side fell on the chopping block within Microsoft".

"I am on a visa and have limited time to find a new position," she added.

The Indian-origin worker is looking for new opportunities in the domain of Data Science and ML Engineering to align her career, visa status, and family responsibilities.

Jhavar concluded her LinkedIn post by saying, "Please help me find a suitable position to connect with a team where I can have a relevant role to play. I will be persistent until I crack my next move".

Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said in a note to employees that the layoffs, which would affect about 5 per cent of Microsoft's workforce, would be completed by the end of March, with notifications beginning Wednesday.

Microsoft currently has more than 2,20,000 employees, and this round of layoffs affects around 10,000 jobs.

--IANS
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Washington, Jan 19 (IANS) US regulators have found that three Amazon warehouse facilities exposed workers to "ergonomic hazards", including putting them at high risk for lower back injuries and other musculoskeletal disorders.

Amazon faces a total of $60,269 in proposed penalties for these violations.

The investigators found Amazon warehouse workers at high risk for lower back injuries and other musculoskeletal disorders related to the high frequency with which workers are required to lift packages and other items; the heavy weight of the items; awkward postures, such as twisting, bending and long reaches while lifting; and long hours required to complete assigned tasks.

OSHA also reviewed on-site injury logs and discovered that Amazon warehouse workers experienced high rates of musculoskeletal disorders.

"Each of these inspections found work processes that were designed for speed but not safety, and they resulted in serious worker injuries," said Doug Parker, Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health.

While Amazon has developed impressive systems to make sure its customers' orders are shipped efficiently and quickly, "the company has failed to show the same level of commitment to protecting the safety and well-being of its workers", Parker said in a statement.

In December 2022, OSHA cited Amazon for 14 record-keeping violations as part of the same investigation.

Amazon has been given 15 days to comply with the order.

A company spokesperson said they "take the safety and health of our employees very seriously, and we strongly disagree with these allegations and intend to appeal".

--IANS
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San Francisco, Jan 19 (IANS) Amazon has started notifying its employees affected by its new round of layoffs, as a part of its plan to reduce its headcount by around 18,000 people, the media reported.

It however, remains unclear as to how many employees are being affected in this particular round, but the company already laid off 2,300 employees in Washington of which the majority worked in Seattle, where one of the company's headquarters is located, reports The Verge.

Amazon had started its first round of layoffs last November.

At the time, there were reports that around 10,000 people would be affected, including members of its hardware and services, human resources, and retail teams.

Earlier this month, Amazon confirmed the layoffs and their massive scale, saying that including the ones from last year, Wednesday's round, and potential additional cuts in 2023, they would affect 18,000 employees overall.

A memo from CEO Andy Jassy posted on the company's website announced that impacted employees would be notified starting on Wednesday.

Jassy said in a statement that they were not done with the annual planning process as earlier mentioned, and "I expected there would be more role reductions in early 2023".

As Amazon announced to lay off 18,000 employees globally, including nearly 1,000 in India, reports have surfaced that some of the impacted employees broke down and were left "crying in the office" when they heard they have been asked to go.

On Grapevine, a community app for Indian professionals, an Amazon India employee posted sad scenes at offices, including people crying after the announcement of layoffs.

Amazon earlier admitted it was consolidating "some teams and programmes" in its hardware and services division, and Jassy had told workers that there would be "more role reductions as leaders continue to make adjustments" in 2023.

--IANS
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Chennai, Jan 16 (IANS) Even as central banks are expected to slow their pace of rate hikes in 2023, financial conditions are expected to remain tight, said CRISIL Ltd on Monday.

In a report, the credit rating agency said the financial conditions are expected to be tight due to the US Fed's policy rates at a decadal high in 2023 despite the looming recession. S&P Global expects the Fed policy rate to peak at 5-5.25 per cent in April-June 2023, with rate cuts only towards the end of the year.

The US Fed's policy rate remaining higher than in the past decade will keep global financial conditions tight and maintain pressure on capital flows.

That apart, the real repo rate will be on a rising trend, as inflation continues to moderate. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to remain wary of easing its policy stance in its upcoming policy meeting, given that core inflation remains sticky, CRISIL said.

Liquidity conditions will also not return to surplus as seen in the pandemic years, which will maintain fundamental pressure on domestic interest rates.

Thirdly, borrowing costs for the broader economy will continue to rise, given the pending transmission of the RBI's rate hikes. This is likely to have some impact on the growth prospects of the Indian economy in the next fiscal as well.

According to CRISIL, the transmission of the RBI's rate hikes is still in progress, leading to a steady rise in bank lending and deposit rates. Key bank lending rates reached close to the pre-pandemic five year average in December. Credit growth moderated, albeit remaining at a decadal high.

Since the start of the RBI's rate hike cycle, the repo rate has increased 225 basis points (bps), while housing loan rates have increased 218 bps, auto loan rates 155 bps, and deposit rates 133 bps, CRISIL said.

According to CRISIL, domestic financial conditions were broadly stable in December 2022 relative to the previous month, as per its Financial Conditions Index (FCI) shows. The FCI value printed -0.1 in December, same as the previous month.

A negative value suggests that financial conditions are marginally tight compared with the long-term average (since 2010), but a mild negative number suggests the index is in the comfort zone.

Broadly, global cues contributed to easing of financial conditions, while domestic cues lent tightness. Falling international crude oil prices and easing dollar index augured well for Indian debt and equity markets, CRISIL said.

--IANS
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Chennai, Jan 16 (IANS) Hiring by Indian start-ups declined by 44 per cent during the last quarter of 2022 as compared to the first quarter that year, said human resources consultancy company CIEL HR Services.

According to a study by the company, hirings among Indian start-ups had been on a steady decline.

"The hiring experienced a 44 per cent decline in hiring in Q4 compared to Q1 of 2022," the company said.

With the start-up sector witnessing turbulent times, attrition continued to be a major roadblock for the players.

Despite high attrition rates, the average median tenure increased to 1.9 years in start-ups vis-a-vis 1.7 years 6 months back. However, it is still not on par with other sectors like ITES (5.8 years), FMCG (4.1 years) and MSME Manufacturing (3.6 years), the study notes.

The study further stated that 64 per cent of the respondents (start-up employees) are willing to move to a "stable job". Amongst these respondents, 47 per cent have stated job security as a concern to move to another job, followed by reasons like no work-life balance (27 per cent) and Better Pay in established firms (26 per cent).

Commenting on this, Aditya Narayan Mishra, Managing Director & CEO of CIEL HR Services, said, "India continues to be the front-runner of the Startup ecosystem despite the current threatening economic uncertainties. This downfall is only for a transient period, it will push the start-ups to be more serious in their overall operations and set new thresholds."

"In this context, we see startups preferring onsite work, with 94 per cent of job openings looking for awork from office'. Startups are on the lookout for highly productive and skilled talent that can adapt quickly to the changes and stay ahead of the curve," Mishra said.

As to the gender diversity in the start-up sector, the study notes that the women representation is at 24 per cent amongst start-ups with a negligible 11 per cent representation in leadership positions.

"Lack of flexibility, shift-away from remote working culture and inadequate support for childcare and eldercare needs continue to be hindrances for women to sustain and progress in the start-up ecosystem," the report notes.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Jan 16 (IANS) Elon-musk owned Tesla's chief designer, Franz von Holzhausen, has revealed in an interview that the company is constantly improving its Model S.

In a recent interview with Ryan McCaffrey's podcast, Ride The Lightning, Holzhausen said that it felt like he was working on the Model S every day, reports Teslarati.

"Even though we've just done a refresh, and it's a big improvement on the car, we're still looking at how we continue to make it better," Holzhausen said.

Talking about the 2021 Model S refresh, the chief designer said that it was something he and the team knew they wanted to do and took the chance to enhance manufacturability.

Holzhausen also said that doing a refresh with both the interior and exterior took a "fair amount of time."

Moreover, he described Model S as a timeless car and mentioned that the team wanted to be "really specific about the improvements."

The automaker has been making improvements to its flagship design since launching it in 2012, the report said.

--IANS
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Chennai, Jan 16 (IANS) Private sector Federal Bank closed the third quarter of FY23 with a net profit of Rs 803.61 crore.

According to the bank, for the quarter ended December 31, 2022 it had earned a net profit of Rs 803.61 crore (Q3FY21 Rs 521.73 crore) on a total income of Rs 4,967.25 crore (Rs 3,926.75 crore).

Net Interest Income for the quarter ended December 31, 2022 grew by 27.14 per cent to Rs 1,956.53 crore from Rs 1,538.90 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2021.

Other Income of the bank grew to Rs 534.00 crore from Rs 484.19 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2021.

The net interest margin increased by 22 bps to reach 3.49 per cent, Federal Bank said.

According to Shyam Srinivasan, Managing Director & CEO, an all-round strong operating performance has helped us deliver the highest ever quarterly profit of about Rs 804 crore.

"Credit Cost has improved on the back of continued strong asset quality, with GNPA (gross non performing assets) and NNPA (Net NPA) at 2.43 per cent and 0.73 per cent respectively. Broad based asset growth of 19 per cent, coupled with core revenue profile has yielded a higher ROA, currently at 1.33 per cent," Srinivasan said.

--IANS
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New Delhi/Chennai, Jan 16 (IANS) India's wholesale price index-based (WPI) inflation for December 2022 fell to almost two-year low of 4.95 per cent, owing to sliding food and crude as well as petroleum prices.

WPI-based inflation was 5.85 per cent in November 2022.

Experts also said this would result in a fall in consumer price index inflation in Q4FY23.

"Fall in prices of food articles, mineral oils, crude petroleum and natural gas, food products, textiles and chemicals & chemical products contributed to a slide in wholesale price index-based inflation," a statement issued by the Union Commerce Ministry said.

The WPI inflation slipped below the 5 per cent mark for the first time since February 2021, when it was at 4.83 per cent.

Reacting to the latest WPI percentage Suman Chowdhury, Chief Analytical Officer, Acuite Ratings & Research said it continues to drop rapidly and at 4.95 per cent for December 2022 has subsided below 5 per cent for the first time in 21 months.

"This is clearly driven by the moderation in global commodity prices, including that of food. The incremental relief is reflected in the disinflation of primary articles where prices saw a sequential contraction for successive two months at 1.93 per cent and 2.98 per cent in Nov-22 and Dec-22 respectively," Chowdhury said.

According to Chowdhury, it is also noteworthy that the sequential inflation in manufactured products has remained zero or in the negative zone since August 2022 reflecting a larger slowdown in manufactured goods at global level along with the correction in the input prices.

What's encouraging to see is the quicker drop in core WPI inflation which declined to 3.19 per cent in Dec-22 from 7.03 per cent in Sep-22.

"The sharper drop in wholesale inflation is likely to translate into a steady downtrend in headline CPI inflation in Q4FY23 unless any new surprises come up. While we continue to forecast another 25 bps of rate hike by MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) in Feb-23, the likelihood of a pause has increased with the latest CPI and WPI data prints," Chowdhury said.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) Homegrown Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL) has got the final approval from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU) under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, the company said on Monday.

As an entity under Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), PPBL has got the final authorisation to conduct bill payment and aggregation business as a BBPOU.

PPBL had been undertaking this activity so far under in-principle authorisation from the RBI.

"Our vision is to drive financial inclusion by offering users greater access to digital services. With this approval, we will further increase the adoption of digital payments by merchant billers and enable them with secure, fast and convenient transactions. Through the Paytm app, users can make convenient payments for their bills and benefit from automatic payment and reminder services," said a Paytm Payments Bank spokesperson.

Being an authorised operational unit, PPBL works in adherence to the standards set by Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU), i.e., NPCI Bharat Billpay Limited (NBBL).

Under the RBI's guidance, PPBL will display all agent institutions onboarded on its website and make concerted efforts to onboard more billers in the approved categories on the BBPS platform. This approval enables the Bank to become the single point access to all billers on all payment channels - digital and physical.

PPBL remained the largest UPI beneficiary bank for 19 months in a row with over 1,727 million transactions in December 2022, ahead of all major banks in the country.

With 386.5 million registered transactions, the bank is one of the top 10 remitter banks for UPI transactions according to NPCI's latest report.

PPBL is also one of the leading issuer and acquirer banks for National Electronics Toll Collection (NETC) FASTag.

As an Issuer Bank, PPBL registered 57.13 million transactions and as an acquirer, it registered 47.9 million transactions in November 2022.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) Homegrown social media company ShareChat (Mohalla Tech Pvt Ltd) has laid off 20 per cent of its workforce due to uncertain market conditions.

Backed by Twitter, Google, Snap and Tiger Global, ShareChat has about 2,300 employees, and the layoff will impact about 500 people at the company, according to reports.

"We are taking a very difficult decision today to part ways with around 20 per cent of our talented FTEs (full-time employees) to ensure the financial health and longevity of our company in the current uncertain macroeconomic environment," said Ankush Sachdeva in a note to the employees.


"In hindsight, we overestimated the market growth in the highs of 2021 and underestimated the duration and intensity of the global liquidity squeeze," he added.

In addition, the company also announced a financial package for the affected employees.

The compensation package includes a payout for the notice period as well as an additional 15 days of monthly gross salary for each completed year of full-time service.

Moreover, the CEO's note specifies a 100 per cent pro-rated bonus through December 31, 2022, as well as any unpaid bonuses as of the last working day.

In December 2022, ShareChat laid off less than 5 per cent of its employees after it shut down its fantasy sports platform called Jeet11.

--IANS
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