FRIDAY, N0VEMBER 14 - 20, 2014 • 8 Pages www. enritimes.com 5 Mumbai, Maharashtra ( 6 Rest of India) FOR NATIONAL & OVERSEAS PLACEMENTS Registration WITH THE RNI UNDER No. 69111/98 Registered No. MH/MR/NORTH EAST/96/2012-2014 Mumbai GPO Patrika Channel • Posted: Friday-Saturday ○ ○ ○ • UAE Dh2 BF200 OB200 KF150 QR2 EMPLOYMENT & NRI TIMES ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Sourcing or Searching for Overseas jobs NRI TIMESOnline Creating Opportunities for Indians www.enritimes.com Visa on arrival to Russian businessmen In another measure aimed at easing cumbersome business rules, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said India would extend the visa on arrival facility to Russian businessmen at 18 airports in the country. She said India is committed to removing red-tape and providing a single-window clearance to investors. “India and Russia need to further strengthen the economic relation which is at present below potential,” she admitted. The bilateral trade between the countries stood at $6 billion in 201314. On indirect taxes front also, the Central Board for Excise and Customs (CBEC) has initiated measures for a more transparent and non-adversarial tax administration. In a move towards, 24x7 customs clearances by Dec 31 and a 24-hour facility for specified export and import goods shall be available at 17 airports and 18 seaports in respect of certain categories of imports and exports. AirAsia puts three million seats on sale Low cost carrier AirAsia has announced promotional sale of three million (30 lakh) seats across its network. Tickets under this scheme can be booked till Nov 16, 2014 for travel between June 10, 2015 and January 17, 2016. Passengers can book tickets at the airline’s website www.airasia.com. All inclusive one-way fares are available starting Rs 2599 for international sectors by flights operated by AirAsia Berhad and Thai AirAsia while AirAsia India is offering all inclusive oneway tickets starting Rs 699 in its flights from Bengaluru to Chennai, Kochi, Goa, Jaipur and Chandigarh and vice versa. Amitabh to open film festival The opening ceremony of the 45th International Film Festival of India, starting in Goa on Nov 20, will feature two of Indian cinema’s great superstars — Amitabh Bachchan and Rajinikanth. Making the announcement , Junior I & B Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said: “Bachchan will attend the festival as the chief guest while Rajinikanth will be conferred with the special centenary award for Indian film personality of the year”. Apart from Bachchan and Rajinikanth, celebrated Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award with his latest project The Grandmaster being the closing film. Govt to implement labour reforms To clamp down on cheque-related fraud cases, RBI has asked banks to alert account holders by a phone call and contact the base branch in case of non-home cheques before clearing high value payments. RBI also asked banks to send an SMS alert to payer/drawer when cheques are received for clearing and examine cheques under UV lamp for clearance beyond Rs 2 lakh. The central bank further said multilevel checking should be done before clearing cheques above Rs 5 lakh. For news contact: editorial@enritimes.com Phone: 67241622 / 662 /employment & nritimes EXCHANGE RATES As on 13th November, 2014 (In rupees) Currency US Dollar Pound Sterling Swiss Franc Euro Saudi Riyal Bahrain Dinar Kuwait Dinar Qatar Riyal UAE Dirham Omani Riyal Buying 57.35 90.40 59.16 71.30 15.19 151.77 174.54 15.66 15.52 147.97 Selling 64.90 102.30 68.00 80.70 17.60 173.42 217.21 17.94 17.79 168.80 Rates are subject to change without notice. Errors & Omissions excepted. Jer arghese F orex Bureau Jerrr y V Varghese Forex Sushma, Nahyan praise role of UAE NRIs DUBAI: India and the UAE are engaged in a number of areas to improve the welfare of the 2.6 million NRIs, said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. “We have undertaken measures to ensure the welfare of the Indian community in the UAE,” Swaraj said during a reception in Dubai. These include improving the Indian community welfare fund with a grant of Dh500,000, to be given to the Indian Association in Sharjah and Dh500,000 to the Indian Association in Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak at Ajman for the construcNay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. tion of its social centre. IT sector ahead in hiring NEW DELHI: Indian IT sector has seen robust head count addition in the recently concluded September quarter, making it the best in three years. An analysis of recent quarterly reports show top five IT firms have hired 35, 200 employees on a net basis in the JulySept quarter, up from 14,300 employees in the same quarter last year. The previous best was Sept 2011 quarter, when these firms added over 40,000 people. The strong hiring trend comes amid reports that $118-billion domestic IT industry hiring will slow due to automation and change in business models. According to report by research firm Crisil, incremental recruitment by the IT services industry will halve to 55,000 in fiscal 2018 from 1.05 lakh in fiscal 2014, despite a 13 to 15pc revenue growth forecast for this period. It also pointed out reduction in employee costs from 69pc of total costs in fiscal 2013 to 64pc in the last fiscal. In the July-Sept quarter, Cognizant lead the pack accounting for a third of the hiring. The firm added 12,300 employees, which is the best in its history. Tata Consultancy Services saw net head count addition of 8,326. Infosys (4,127 employees), Wipro (6,845 employees) and HCL (3,831 employees) also saw healthy net additions. “The skills that we need shift a little bit. So we want to make sure that we do not have any skills mismatch. So, we scarified a little bit of utilisation so that we have the right skills for the changing demand and po- UAE visa through new app ABU DHABI: A new smart phone application that enables individuals to apply for visas to the UAE has been launched by the Ministry of Interior (MoI). The app, which covers several types of visas, is connected to a database containing all the applicant’s information. This allows the software to automatically check for information quickly and accurately and inform users accordingly in case any changes needed to be made. Upon issuance, visa will be delivered to users to the location they specify. Maj-Gen Khalifa Hareb Al Khaili, Acting Undersecretary of MoI, said the initiative would allow citizens and residents of the UAE to get access to routine services without being required to visit any MoI centre except in cases where doing so is needed. Al Khaili added his department would seek to achieve paperless transactions by next year. sition ourselves well so that we do not have revenue leakage as we go into next year,” Cognizant President Gordon Coburn said . According to foreign brokerage firm JP Morgan, top six companies (including Tech Mahindra) collectively hired more employees —38,009— on a net basis, in the Sept 2014 quarter than in any quarter over the past three years. “For us it is the most striking statistic of Sept 2014 quarter,” said an analyst. Strong hiring numbers across the industry indicate confidence on pipeline and current assessment of growth opportunities. Part of the hiring would be to build bench and provide cushion against increasing attrition rates. Nonetheless, the magnitude of increase in hiring numbers is a significant positive. in 2015, while Indian employers are expected to dole out a hike of 10.9pc. According to the survey by ECA International, the steepest pay rises in the region have been forecast in Pakistan where companies are anticipating 12pc rise on an average, followed by Vietnam in the second position and India in the third position. But the configuration changes vastly once inflation is taken into consideration. Vietnam would feel the best off in Asia, followed by China in the second place and Pakistan in the third place respectively. In the Asian region, once inflation is taken into account, India’s place falls to seventh on the list, lower than Thailand (4th), Bangladesh (5th) and Sri Lanka (6th). Employees in Japan would see the region’s lowest wage hikes next year as much of the 2.3pc increase is likely to be eroded by inflation. On the other hand, companies in mainland China are planning to award an average eight per cent salary increases again next year. Even after inflation, staff there will be among the best off within the region and globally — they can expect to see rise of 5.5pc. On average, salaries in Asia are expected to increase by 7.2pc in 2015 and after factoring in inflation it will average 2.7pc, higher than the other regions surveyed. According to company predictions from around the globe, wages would rise 5.8pc on an average in 2015, slightly up on this year’s 5.6pc. government comes with great responsibilities,” Swaraj said. “The GDP growth was under five per cent and inflation was high but the people of our country around the world showed confidence and our government is committed to providing that growth to facilitate the business environment.” Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, said Indians in the UAE had distinguished themselves in education, finance, banking, healthcare, communications, (Contd. on page 2) Now, GCC common ban on deportees DUBAI: Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries have started applying a law that bans expatriates deported from any of the six countries from entering the rest of them, according to Manafez Dubai, the official newsletter of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs Dubai (GDRFA). The GCC headquarters is in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, its largest member. The member-countries are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE. A report of the newsletter said the new law is based on the GCC security pact. “Moreover, the country which deports an expatriate will be allowed to take the deportee’s fingerprints and share the information with the rest of the GCC countries,” it revealed. It said the GCC countries are co-ordinating efforts to control drugs with exchanges of information, including names of smugglers, their modus operandi and data. OV Musthafa Zafeer of Musthafa & Almana International Legal Consultants said: “The GCC-wide entry ban for deported expats is not automatic, except in drug-related cases. Otherwise, it is applied on a caseto-case basis.” Tina Thapar of Al Midfa & Associates said: “The security pact of 1994 was amended in 2012 and thereafter implemented for major crimes such as drugs, money laundering, murder etc.” Citing some cases, she said a man implicated in a drug case in Saudi Arabia was deported from the UAE without a trial based on the judgment issued by the Saudi court. Coming Soon Salaries to rise 11pc in India NEW DELHI: Employees in India will see their salaries increase by an average of 10.9pc in 2015 but high inflation will end up eroding much of their wages. “Although wage increases in India are among the highest in Asia, once inflation is taken into account salaries will rise only 3.4pc on average next year,” ECA International regional director (Asia) Lee Quane said. Indian workers are expected to feel slightly better off next year amid decreasing inflationary pressures. “Nevertheless, with inflation expected to be slightly lower next year, wages will increase more in real terms in 2015 than they did this year when they rose just 2.7pc above inflation,” Quane said. Average salary across Asia Pacific is set to rise 7.2pc “The Indian diaspora has made us proud by their contributions to the UAE and India,” Swaraj said. “Today, 2.6 million strong Indians form the largest expatriate group in the UAE and you are all the vital organic links between India and the UAE, which has emerged as the largest trading partner to us and the gateway to the region.” She said the welfare of Indians in the world, including the Gulf, was one of the priorities of the Indian government. “Sustained remittances have contributed to foreign exchange reserves and the country’s new !" ，　． ! "#$%#!##%