In a major move to transform India’s vocational training ecosystem, the Central government is set to upgrade 1,000 government-run Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) under a Rs 60,000 crore Centrally Sponsored Scheme. The initiative, timed with World Youth Skills Day, aims to prepare India’s youth for a rapidly-evolving job market with future-ready skills and modern training infrastructure. The plan will be implemented through a public-private partnership (PPP) model. Of the total funding, Rs 30,000 crore will come from the Centre, Rs 20,000 crore from state governments, and Rs 10,000 crore from industry partners. A hub-and-spoke model will guide implementation, with 200…
Author: HRK News Bureau
Nissan Motor Co. has confirmed plans to permanently close its iconic Oppama plant in Kanagawa Prefecture, with operations scheduled to wind down by March 2028. The decision is part of a broader global restructuring strategy aimed at streamlining production, reducing costs, and regaining long-term financial stability. The closure will impact about 2,400 employees. Nissan has stated it will focus on voluntary transfers, reskilling opportunities, and other support measures to help affected workers transition smoothly. Internal discussions are underway to facilitate redeployment across other facilities, particularly the company’s more efficient Kyushu plant, which is set to absorb a portion of Oppama’s…
Andhra Pradesh’s Employees’ Health Scheme (EHS), introduced in 2013 to provide cashless, quality medical care, is under scrutiny after state government employees voiced serious concerns about its performance. The scheme, which covers over 13 lakh employees, pensioners, and their families, is reportedly failing to deliver on its core promise of financial protection and accessible healthcare. At a recent EHS Managing Committee meeting held at the NTR Aarogyasri Trust Office in Mangalagiri, representatives from AP JAC Amaravati highlighted systemic issues in the scheme’s implementation. Delayed reimbursements to empanelled hospitals were cited as a key concern. Due to these delays, patients are…
Russia has announced plans to hire up to one million skilled professionals from India by the end of 2025. The large-scale recruitment drive is aimed at addressing severe labour shortages in Russia’s key industrial regions and is expected to create new global opportunities for India’s skilled workforce. To facilitate this migration, a new Indian consulate is set to open in Yekaterinburg—Russia’s fourth-largest city and a major industrial hub. The consulate will handle documentation, visa processing, and coordination for Indian workers, ensuring smoother deployment processes. Russia is suffering from a dearth of manpower in sectors such as manufacturing, engineering and heavy…
Swiggy has rolled out a Rs 150 crore employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) as part of its 2024 compensation framework. The initiative is aimed at retaining and rewarding talent across the organisation even while reinforcing a culture of shared ownership and long-term growth. This latest ESOP offering extends to employees at all levels, including delivery personnel, technology teams, and corporate staff. By offering equity as part of compensation, Swiggy seeks to deepen employee engagement and strengthen alignment with the company’s broader business objectives. The move comes as Swiggy continues to grow beyond food delivery into areas such as quick commerce…
A Reddit post detailing a lunch break dispute at an Indian workplace has gone viral, yet again igniting a discussion around toxic work culture and power imbalances in the corporate world. The post, titled ‘Stopped from having lunch break’, recounts the experience of an employee at a mid-sized Indian firm who stood up to his manager after being told to delay his break. According to the post, the employee was instructed to finish pending work before taking lunch. Frustrated and hungry, he responded by saying he works to earn a living, and more importantly, to eat. He pointedly told his…
Kazam, the Indian EV charging and energy-tech platform, has roped in Ram Balasubramanian for the role of chief financial officer (CFO). Backed by 15 years of experience, Balasubramanian will be tasked with overseeing financial planning, performance tracking, and capital deployment across Kazam’s expanding portfolio, which includes over 70,000 charge points, multi-modal EV partnerships, and a pilot peer-to-peer energy exchange programme. Balasubramanian began his professional journey as an articled assistant, at PFK Sridhar and Santhanam. Four years later, having been certified a chartered accountant by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, he joined ITI Securities as senior executive in 2010.…
Dating app giant Bumble has announced a major round of layoffs, cutting approximately 30 per cent of its workforce, or around 240 jobs, to streamline operations and reinvest in its core business. The move, disclosed in a regulatory filing recently, follows earlier cost-cutting commitments of $15 million and comes as the broader dating app industry struggles with user fatigue and slowing growth. Despite the job cuts, Bumble’s stock jumped over 20 per cent following the announcement. The savings from layoffs are expected to be redirected toward product innovation, technology upgrades, and other strategic priorities as Bumble attempts to reposition itself…
HCLTech has reported its Q1 FY26 results, revealing a slight dip in employee attrition and a renewed focus on expanding its workforce, even as overall headcount declined and profitability weakened. For the quarter ending June 2025, the company’s attrition rate stood at 12.8 per cent, a wee bit less than the previous quarter. Attrition has been kind of stable, hovering between 12.5 and 13 per cent for over a year and a half now. The consistent reduction indicates improved employee retention through stronger engagement and internal career mobility. Despite the lower attrition, HCL’s total headcount fell by 269, bringing the…
Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting has announced the elevation of Kumar Chander to the position of CEO and MD. He will step into the shoes of Vineet Agrawal who is superannuating in January 2026 after four decades of service. Kumar Chander, who is currently serving as president-Southeast Asia and Yardley India, will take over as CEO, effective 1 February, 2026. He will work closely with Agrawal to ensure a smooth leadership transition. Vineet Agrawal joined Wipro in 1985 at a time when the main focus of the business was vanaspati, soap, and lighting within India. He became CEO of Wipro…
The US Education Department will be dismantled and about 1,400 employees will be rendered jobless. Why? Because the Supreme Court has allowed the administration to continue with the dismantling of the Department, lifting the order by US District Judge Myong Joun that had blocked these layoffs in May and reinstated the affected 1,400 employees. The US administration under President Donald Trump had laid off about 1,400 Education Department employees in March, after cutting grants worth $1.5 billion, including $600 million for training teachers and about $900 million for research. Now, the US Supreme Court’s unsigned order has made it possible…
Starbucks has mandated its corporate employees to work from the physical office for at least four days in a week starting October 2025, for that is when the new financial year reportedly begins for the coffee chain. For those employees who do not wish to comply, the company is offering the option to exit voluntarily with a lumpsum payment. Brian Niccol, CEO, Starbucks, has reportedly communicated to the employees that the coffee chain is all about establishing human connections, which can only happen if employees are present physically to collaborate, build and strengthen the work culture of the firm. Therefore,…
In the past five years, Vedanta has managed to skill almost 15 lakh people across India through its skill-development initiatives. The skill-development programmes of the Indian critical minerals, energy transition metals, energy and technology conglomerate are closely aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 8 (UN SDG 8), namely, Decent Work and Economic Growth. Designed and deployed in partnership with leading knowledge providers, the initiatives aim to empower 25 lakh people with enhanced skillsets by 2030. Vedanta’s 200 skilling & training centres across India offer over 40 technical and non-technical trades to the youth including solar technicians, forklift operations,…
Parul Pruthi has taken on the role of chief human resources officer, at Revolt Motors. She was earlier serving as head of human resources at Marelli-India Technical R&D Centre. An alumna of International Management Institute (IMI) Delhi from where she completed an MBA in HR, Parul Pruthi began her professional journey with Aon Hewitt, as production support analyst, in 2006. Over a year into this role, she was elevated to PeopleSoft HR consultant. In April of 2010, Pruthi moved to Magneti Marelli S.p.A-Electronic Systems and Powertrain, as senior HR generalist. Among her responsibilities were: manpower planning and budgeting, policy formulation,…
Sony has laid off more than 100 employees at its semiconductor research and development centre in Hod Hasharon, Israel. The move has caused a 25 per cent reduction in the local workforce, which stood at around 400. The job cuts are part of Sony’s ongoing global restructuring exercise aimed at streamlining operations and improving cost efficiency. The Hod Hasharon centre was established following Sony’s acquisition of Israeli startup Altair Semiconductor in 2016. Since then, it has served as a key hub for developing low-power wireless chips used in smart meters and other compact IoT devices. These chips are essential for…
Singapore has launched a new national initiative, Career Health SG, to help workers make informed career decisions and stay relevant in a rapidly- changing job market. Introduced on 10 July, the initiative aims to equip individuals with the right mix of skills training and on-the-job learning to navigate career shifts more confidently. A central feature of the initiative is a new one-stop online platform, also named Career Health SG. The website provides both workers and employers with a clear overview of available support schemes, training programmes, and workforce planning tools. The goal is to encourage proactive career development and long-term…
Goldman Sachs is reshaping the future of software development with the deployment of Devin, an AI software engineer developed by London-based startup, Cognition. This is a sign of how major financial institutions are changing the way they handle coding and tech operations, embracing automation at an unprecedented scale. The bank plans to introduce hundreds of these AI coders initially, with the intention to scale the deployment to thousands. Devin is designed to perform repetitive and time-consuming tasks such as updating legacy systems and automating basic software functions—work that is typically handled by junior engineers. The objective is to dramatically improve…
Manish Kainth has joined Torrent Pharmaceuticals as its new chief human resources officer (CHRO). This is a strategic move to strengthen its people leadership during a phase of global expansion and transformation. At Torrent Pharma, Kainth will now be responsible for driving the company’s HR strategy, with a focus on enhancing leadership capability and building a culture aligned with performance and innovation. His international exposure and strong understanding of employee-centric practices are expected to play a critical role in aligning the workforce with Torrent’s long-term global goals. Bringing over two decades of HR leadership across multiple industries, Kainth’s expertise lies…
Sahar Khan has been appointed as the India head of human resources, Amplifon. She moves to the hearing care retail firm from BMW Group, where she was assistant general manager, human resources. Having started off her professional journey as a summer intern with ITC and then with Kimberley-Klark, Sahar Khan joined Glenmark Pharmaceuticals as a management trainee, in 2011. Less than a year into this role, she was elevated to assistant manager-human resources. By April 2013 she had become manager-sales HR. This role saw her moving from Goa to Mumbai, playing HR business partner to the division head and regional…
Shifting its focus to artificial intelligence (AI), Recruit Holdings, the Japanese tech company and parent of Indeed and Glassdoor, is trimming its workforce by about 1,300 employees across the two companies. The cuts will affect about six per cent of the HR technology division of Recruit. The objective is to restructure such that the operations of Glassdoor are integrated into Indeed and there is more focus on AI. The layoffs will affect almost all functions of the two companies in the US, including tech, human resources, sustainability as well as research and development (R&D) departments. The employees were informed of…
Flipkart is allowing employees to sell their stock options worth millions of dollars. The e-commerce company, owned by Walmart will see about 7,000 employees (who have worked with Flipkart during 6 July 2022 to 5 July 2025) benefitting from this stock buy-back offer. The employees can sell up to five per cent of their stock options vested over the last three years, at $174.32 per unit. The payments will be disbursed in August 2025. It is reported that if the performance goes as expected, Flipkart is likely to offer another liquidity programme next year. With the company continuing to do…
Telstra, the Australian telecommunications provider, has announced plans to reduce its workforce by 550 employees as part of a restructuring exercise. The objective is to streamline operations within its enterprise division and make broader structural adjustments across the company. The proposed layoffs represent less than two per cent of Telstra’s full-time staff, which stood at nearly 32,000 employees at the end of the previous year. The decision follows a significant downsizing initiative in 2023, where approximately 1,900 roles were eliminated, primarily from the company’s network applications and services segment. The latest round of cuts reflects Telstra’s push to reset its…
Meta’s artificial intelligence ( AI) division is facing fresh internal criticism as concerns about its workplace culture come to light. A former employee, who recently exited the company, has described the AI unit as a dysfunctional one, full of fear and confusion. The departing researcher had worked closely with Meta’s LLaMA models and left behind a candid note that is now gaining attention. According to the former employee, the department—with a strength of 2,000—has become directionless, with many workers feeling disengaged and demoralised. The internal atmosphere is described as strained by continuous cycles of layoffs and rigid performance reviews. These…
In a significant shake-up at the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), over 2,100 senior-ranking employees are preparing to exit the agency. The development is part of an internal workforce-reduction plan that is expected to align the organisation with a revised and tighter federal budget. The majority of those leaving fall under government pay grades GS-13 to GS-15. That means they are experienced professionals in senior-level roles. The departures are being facilitated through a mix of voluntary early- retirement packages, buyouts and deferred resignations. While this is not a mass layoff, the scale of attrition is substantial and reflects…
A workplace incident has sparked conversation on Reddit after an Indian employee claimed they were singled out by their manager for updating their LinkedIn profile to show they were ‘Open to Work’. The said employee works for a company that had recently gone through significant restructuring, shrinking its workforce from 50 employees to just seven within 13 months. The employee, who posted anonymously on Reddit’s r/IndianWorkplace forum, shared that after surviving two rounds of layoffs, they discreetly activated the LinkedIn feature to explore other opportunities. However, shortly after, they noticed a sudden change in their boss’s behaviour. The individual alleges…
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the Indian multinational information technology services firm, has seen a rise in hiring during the first quarter of FY26. The company added 5,090 (net) to its headcount in the June quarter. After a period of slow hiring, this is the second consecutive quarter of additions at TCS. The company continues to invest in workforce development. This also indicates that the company is hopeful about demand picking up. The company’s statement reportedly reveals a rise in attrition rate to 13.8 per cent in the June quarter, which is slightly more than the 13.3 per cent attrition rate…