The Supreme Court has ruled that excess salary paid by mistake can be recovered from employees if they had given a written undertaking to refund such payments. This decision came in a case involving teachers of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Calicut, who had received Academic Grade Pay benefits in 2009 but later had them withdrawn in 2010 after it was found they did not meet the required service conditions. Initially, a Single Judge of the Kerala High Court supported the teachers, but a Division Bench reversed that ruling in 2015. The teachers then approached the Supreme Court, arguing…
Author: HRK News Bureau
The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has clarified that disputes between employers and employees over forfeiture of Provident Fund (PF) contributions cannot be treated as consumer complaints. The case involved Prakash Rao, a former employee of Dena Bank. After disciplinary proceedings for alleged financial irregularities, Rao was dismissed in July 2009. At that time, the Bank had contributed Rs 7.41 lakh to his PF account. Following his dismissal, the Bank forfeited the amount, claiming it was part of recoveries against liabilities of over Rs 86 lakh. LiveLaw reports that Rao challenged the forfeiture before the District Consumer Forum, seeking…
The Gujarat Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) has ruled that amounts recovered by Torrent Pharmaceuticals from employees towards the cost of canteen meals are not liable to GST, as the recoveries do not constitute a ‘supply’ under the CGST Act. The ruling relates to canteen facilities provided at Torrent’s manufacturing plant at Indrad, its R&D facility at Bhat in Ahmedabad and its corporate office at Torrent House. The company has more than 250 employees at the plant and R&D facility, while its corporate office has more than 100 employees. Torrent told the AAR that providing canteen facilities was a statutory…
Meta has parted ways with employees it hired from AI safety startup Virtue AI, including the startup’s co-founders, just four months after recruiting the team as part of its efforts to strengthen AI safety and security capabilities. The departures include Virtue AI co-founders Bo Li, Dawn Song and Sanmi Koyejo, who joined Meta in June along with other members of the startup’s team. The hiring had been seen as part of Meta’s push to build specialised expertise in AI safety as competition intensifies among technology companies for talent in the field. Andy Stone, Meta’s spokesperson, reportedlg said the arrangement did…
Nike is set to reduce its workforce as part of a broader restructuring programme aimed at generating about $2.5 billion in cumulative savings through fiscal 2031, as the sportswear company continues its efforts to turn around the business. The company has not disclosed the number of jobs that could be eliminated. However, Nike said its new Pace operating model will alter the size and structure of its workforce as it looks to streamline operations, remove duplication and shift resources towards priority areas. Elliott Hill, president and CEO, Nike, said the restructuring would involve adding capabilities in some parts of the…
Workers across several industries in Iran are facing mounting financial and employment pressures, with delayed salaries, reduced benefits and growing uncertainty over job continuity reported across the automotive, energy, pharmaceutical and aviation sectors. Some workers have reportedly gone weeks or even months without receiving their full wages. In several workplaces, overdue salaries are being paid in instalments, while employees raising concerns over delayed payments or missing benefits have faced warnings of dismissal or pressure to resign. The situation has also affected overtime payments, meal allowances and other workplace benefits, with some workers reporting that benefits have been reduced or discontinued.…
Smita Mitra has taken on the role of chief-of-staff at Magma General Insurance, adding a new leadership mandate to a career spanning more than two decades across human resources and organisational transformation. Mitra brings experience in enterprise and HR transformation, organisational effectiveness, culture building, talent strategy and leadership development. Her career has included senior HR leadership roles in the financial services sector, including stints with Poonawalla Fincorp and Bajaj Finance. In her current role at Magma General Insurance, Mitra is responsible for the chief-of-staff mandate, following her experience leading people and transformation agendas across financial services organisations. Before joining Magma…
Aavinash Yogeshwar has joined Travel Food Services (TFS) as its new chief human resources officer (CHRO), taking charge of the people function at the travel food and beverage and hospitality company. Yogeshwar brings more than two decades of experience across human capital management, HR business partnering, workforce planning, performance management, total rewards, succession planning and organisational development. He joins TFS from Mahindra Manulife Mutual Fund, where he served as head – human resources for nearly four years, from October 2022 to September 2026. In this role, he oversaw strategic workforce planning, performance management, total rewards, talent management and succession planning.…
Rahuraman Venkatachalam has been elevated to vice president – HR, enterprise learning and development at HCLTech, taking on an expanded leadership mandate focused on enterprise learning, capability building and talent development. Venkatachalam brings more than two decades of HR experience across technology, banking and financial services, and media and entertainment, with a career spanning HR business partnering, talent management, employee engagement, leadership development and organisational transformation. He moves into the new role after serving as associate vice president – human resources, engineering and R&D services at HCLTech, a position he held since August 2021. In this role, he was responsible…
The recent foundit Insights Tracker (fit) reveals that India’s festive hiring market is expanding despite an overall cautious job environment. Festive hiring grew 7 per cent year-on-year to 1,27,080 jobs in 2026, even as overall white-collar hiring moderated 11 per cent YoY in September. Quick Commerce saw 18 per cent more hiring, followed by e-commerce with 12 per cent more hiring and logistics & transportation witnessing a hiring increase of 10 per cent. Travel and hospitality (+6%), media & entertainment (+5%) and retail (+4%) also recorded growth. The demand is spreading beyond the metros, with Tier 2 and emerging cities…
Anoop Hiwalay has joined Schneider Electric as director-human resources, taking on a broader business HR mandate after several years in talent acquisition and HR leadership roles across technology and financial services. In his new role, Hiwalay will lead HR for Schneider Electric’s commercial business in India, covering sales, One Automation, Home Solution, Digital Energy, Power Products, execution centres and strategy. His remit also extends to the company’s operations in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Hiwalay joined Schneider Electric in 2022 as director-talent acquisition, India and HR Leader for India One Solution. Over nearly four years, he led talent acquisition for the…
Neve Jewels Group – India has been certified as a Happiest Place to Work, recognising its workplace where support and growth go hand in hand. A recurring theme from employee comments is the breadth of exposure people get here, working across diverse and complex areas of the business, learning continuously, and being trusted to take ownership rather than micromanaged. That same attention to quality the organisation is known for externally extends inward too, in a culture that encourages people to experiment, take on new challenges and grow through them. The strength of this employee experience is also reflected in the…
Narang kicked off his professional journey as a process executive with Infosys in July of 2006. Soon, he switched to the banking space with his first stint as a business analyst with Goldman Sachs, in October of 2007. Then followed a year and a half of dabbling in human resources in the hospitality space with Marriott International. He was back in the BFSI space when he joined JPMorgan Chase to look after talent acquisition. Over two years later, he moved to Deutsche Bank as HR business partner, in 2014. Almost three years into this role, Bharat Narang moved yet again…
Amazon India has turned its focus on employees and delivery partners as the Great Indian Festival approaches. The company hosted a high-energy kick-off for staff, combining music, food, and festive cheer with a new benefit—exclusive employee-only offers. Starting 8 October, employees can access special deals across 50 brands, including extra discounts and early-bird promotions. Leaders such as Samir Kumar, Abhinav Singh, and Vikas Bansal highlighted that these offers are a way to thank teams who spend months preparing for the festival, ensuring they feel valued before peak season begins. At the same time, Amazon expanded its welfare initiative for delivery…
Canada has eased rules governing the hiring of low-wage temporary foreign workers, allowing employers with multiple small work locations to hire more foreign workers than permitted under the standard workforce cap. Under the revised rules introduced by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) in August, employers can hire one low-wage temporary foreign worker per work location with fewer than 10 employees. Employers in designated in-demand sectors such as healthcare, construction and food production can hire up to two workers per such location. Previously, the alternative calculation allowing employers to exceed the standard cap applied only to businesses with fewer than…
The University of Utah plans to eliminate or reduce between 5 and 15 per cent of its non-faculty and non-clinical workforce over the next year as part of a broader workforce modernisation and restructuring effort. The changes could affect between 285 and 855 positions out of the University’s approximately 5,700 non-faculty and non-clinical employees. However, the university said the figures do not represent a uniform workforce reduction across all departments. It is reported that a company’s spokesperson said the 5-15 per cent range is not a university-wide target and will vary by function. Some workforce reductions are expected to occur…
Siddharth Nag has been elevated to senior director-human resources at Xpressbees (BusyBees Logistics Solutions), expanding his mandate across the company’s B2C, B2B, Line Haul and 3PL businesses. In his expanded role, Nag will lead HR strategy, workforce planning, organisational effectiveness, talent management, employee engagement and leadership development, while also driving people transformation and data-led workforce optimisation. Nag has been with Xpressbees since July 2024, most recently serving as director-human resources, and learning & development. In that role, he led hiring strategy across the company’s B2C, B2B and 3PL verticals, managing workforce requirements of more than 3,000 hires a month. His…
The Sikkim government has increased the Dearness Allowance (DA) for state government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) for pensioners, with the revised rates effective from 1 January. According to a circular reported by PTI, the DA and DR for employees and pensioners drawing pay under the pre-revised basic pay structure have been increased from 257 to 262 per cent. For those drawing pay under the revised basic pay structure, the rates have been raised from 58 to 60 per cent. The revised DA rates will also apply to contractual employees and personnel working in work-charged establishments who draw revised pay…
Vivek Sapre has joined Fibe, formerly known as EarlySalary, as chief human resources officer (CHRO), taking on the leadership of the fintech company’s people function. Sapre brings experience across human resources, people strategy, organisational development and talent management, alongside an earlier career spanning technology, financial services, consulting and business strategy. He joins Fibe from Veranda Learning Solutions, where he served as CHRO from November 2023 until September 2026. His resignation from Veranda became effective at the close of business on 28 September 2026. In his resignation letter, Sapre cited his decision to pursue an external opportunity aligned with his long-term…
Rupali Gupta has joined Hinduja Housing Finance as regional human resources manager, bringing more than eight years of experience across HR business partnering, talent acquisition, workforce strategy and employee engagement in the banking and financial- services sector. Before joining Hinduja Housing Finance, Gupta spent more than four years with CSB Bank, where they progressed through roles including talent-acquisition partner, regional HR lead and senior manager–HR. As senior manager–HR at CSB Bank, Gupta supported more than 600 employees across 105 locations and 13 business units. The role involved workforce strategy, recruitment, performance management, employee engagement and retention. Gupta also managed a…
Isgec Heavy Engineering has picked Mahua Chakrabarty to play chief human resources officer (CHRO). The industrial machinery-manufacturing company with 5,500 employees across India and overseas, will see Chakrabarty further strengthening its people practices, fostering an empowered organisational culture and supporting its growth. Having begun her tryst with HR back in 1999 as an HR and training manager with Quipo Infrastructure and GE Capital, Chakrabarty joined Hilti Group as director-human resources and training. Over nine years later, she moved to Xebia as director-HR. Her next stop was Semac Consultants as group CHRO-India, Middle East and Africa. Over the next two and…
The Indian government has increased the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) wage ceiling from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000, effective 17 September. This move will bring more than 10 million additional workers under mandatory provident fund and pension coverage, marking one of the largest expansions of social security in recent years. The Labour Ministry has reportedly directed employers not to reduce statutory wages or adjust the higher employer contribution against employees’ cost to company (CTC). As per a ToI report, employers are expected to treat their share of social-security contributions as an investment in workforce stability, rather than a deduction.…
The GST Council is expected to consider a proposal on 7 October to allow employers to claim input tax credit (ITC) on premiums paid for life and health insurance coverage provided to employees. Currently, businesses pay GST on group-insurance policies purchased for their employees but cannot claim ITC on the tax paid on such premiums. An 18 per cent GST is levied on these group-insurance policies, adding to the cost of providing employee insurance coverage. Under the existing GST framework, individuals purchasing life or health insurance for themselves or their families are exempt from GST. However, this exemption does not…
Surya Narayan Panigrahi has spent more than 36 years with one employer. He has hardly spent them in one place. NTPC has appointed Panigrahi executive director – HR, elevating an HR leader whose career has taken him across power stations, regional headquarters and the company’s corporate centre. Before taking charge, Panigrahi was executive director (HR)-cum-regional head of HR for NTPC’s Northern and Southern Regions. In December 2025, he took additional responsibility for the Northern Region while continuing to lead HR for the Southern Region. His elevation to executive director – HR took effect on 8 June 2026. The long tenure…
Kripa Krishnamoorthy has spent much of her HR career moving between two worlds: running people agendas within individual businesses and building them across markets. Her latest move takes her back to the first. Visa has appointed Krishnamoorthy head of HR for its INSA market, following two years at Synchrony, where she led Asia talent strategy. At Synchrony, Krishnamoorthy’s canvas stretched across Asia and a workforce of more than 10,000. Her mandate covered talent acquisition, learning and development, talent and engagement, and corporate responsibility. She also led talent strategy, organisation design and operating-model work for its Asia global capability centre. That…
German luxury carmaker BMW AG plans to eliminate around 20 per cent of its senior management positions by mid-2027 as it streamlines its organisational structure and expands the use of artificial intelligence across the business. According to Bloomberg, the company will consolidate divisions and management layers under an agreed buyout programme as it seeks to simplify decision-making, improve efficiency and strengthen profitability. Most of the affected positions are expected to be in Munich, where BMW is headquartered. BMW currently has about 65 senior vice presidents reporting directly to the board, followed by around 400 senior management positions. The planned restructuring…