Indiabulls, touted to be one of the larger broking houses in the country with interests in real estate as well, is said to have gone on a firing spree of late. According to some former employees, between July 18 and 21, many relationship managers (RMs) are said to have been shown the door. They’ve been given termination letters and asked to resign.
“From 30 people in our branch, it has now come down to three,” alleges one RM who has been given the pink slip. He believes that the company was hiring as long as the markets were on an upward swing. Now that the direction of the market is uncertain, the firings have begun.
Gagan Banga, executive director of Indiabulls Financial Consultants, denies that there is any general layoff, but there could be normal attrition.
“There are nine key result areas which we look for in employees, like the number of accounts opened, income generated, number of clients being serviced, fulfilment of regulatory requirements, etc. Their performance is judged on these, and if they are not satisfactory, their employment with us is terminated in six months, as in any other company. When we are hiring 200-300 people a month, a 5-7% attrition rate is a given,” says Banga.
According to him, Indiabulls’ RM strength now stands at around 9,500 when even the company’s website mentions only 5,000. “This proves that we haven’t laid off anybody. Our business model is about hiring people, training them and letting them generate revenue for us. People are our raw material. In fact, this month we are planning to hire another 1,200 people, and by the year-end our employee strength will be anywhere between 23,000 and 24,000,” says Banga.
“Three months ago, we had 31 branches in Mumbai and now it stands at 57. People are being moved around, and between offices as well,” he adds.
Thanks to difficulties in hiring B-school graduates, Indiabulls started hiring graduates and post-graduates from universities as relationship managers some time ago. Many of them were given offer letters, but this was not followed up with appointment letters. “We were hired, given absolutely no training and asked to go to the market and sell as many accounts as possible,” says one relationship manager.
After the 1,000-odd point meltdown of the Sensex towards the end of May, 2006, around 300-400 people were asked to leave Indiabulls, according to relationship managers that DNA spoke to.
Freshers hired as relationship managers by the firm earn between Rs 1.2 lakh and Rs 1.8 lakh. “Now out of work, all that we can hope for is for our last month’s salary cheques to come on time,” says another recently-fired relationship manager.
Goldman Sachs, Fidelity International, Lloyd George Investment Management, Merrill Lynch and Farallon Capital are some of the foreign institutional investors who have invested in the shares of Indiabulls Financial Services, a listed company. The company’s scrip closed last Friday at Rs 206.10 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Source : DNA Money
“From 30 people in our branch, it has now come down to three,” alleges one RM who has been given the pink slip. He believes that the company was hiring as long as the markets were on an upward swing. Now that the direction of the market is uncertain, the firings have begun.
Gagan Banga, executive director of Indiabulls Financial Consultants, denies that there is any general layoff, but there could be normal attrition.
“There are nine key result areas which we look for in employees, like the number of accounts opened, income generated, number of clients being serviced, fulfilment of regulatory requirements, etc. Their performance is judged on these, and if they are not satisfactory, their employment with us is terminated in six months, as in any other company. When we are hiring 200-300 people a month, a 5-7% attrition rate is a given,” says Banga.
According to him, Indiabulls’ RM strength now stands at around 9,500 when even the company’s website mentions only 5,000. “This proves that we haven’t laid off anybody. Our business model is about hiring people, training them and letting them generate revenue for us. People are our raw material. In fact, this month we are planning to hire another 1,200 people, and by the year-end our employee strength will be anywhere between 23,000 and 24,000,” says Banga.
“Three months ago, we had 31 branches in Mumbai and now it stands at 57. People are being moved around, and between offices as well,” he adds.
Thanks to difficulties in hiring B-school graduates, Indiabulls started hiring graduates and post-graduates from universities as relationship managers some time ago. Many of them were given offer letters, but this was not followed up with appointment letters. “We were hired, given absolutely no training and asked to go to the market and sell as many accounts as possible,” says one relationship manager.
After the 1,000-odd point meltdown of the Sensex towards the end of May, 2006, around 300-400 people were asked to leave Indiabulls, according to relationship managers that DNA spoke to.
Freshers hired as relationship managers by the firm earn between Rs 1.2 lakh and Rs 1.8 lakh. “Now out of work, all that we can hope for is for our last month’s salary cheques to come on time,” says another recently-fired relationship manager.
Goldman Sachs, Fidelity International, Lloyd George Investment Management, Merrill Lynch and Farallon Capital are some of the foreign institutional investors who have invested in the shares of Indiabulls Financial Services, a listed company. The company’s scrip closed last Friday at Rs 206.10 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Source : DNA Money
