Just 1 in 5 employers bullish on hiring, India’s slowest roads, and more news

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Just one in five companies plan to hire in sizeable numbers next quarter while 52% don’t see any change in headcount, a ManpowerGroup survey of over 5,100 employers shows. Sectors with the strongest hiring sentiment include public administration, education, wholesale and retail trade, besides manufacturing and construction. The report comes at a time when industries ranging from automobiles to FMCG to real estate are cutting jobs in the face of an unprecedented slowdown. But despite the muted projections, the ManpowerGroup study says, India is the fourth most optimistic market among the 44 surveyed.

Kolkata and Mumbai have the slowest arterial roads with a 10-km commute taking 39 and 37 minutes on average, respectively, Mint reports. In fact, Kolkata has 11 of the slowest 20 roads across the country’s top six cities, most of them in colonial-era neighbourhoods. Hyderabad and Chennai have the fastest roads, with motorists covering 10 km in 26 and 29 minutes, respectively. Kolkata’s MG Road is the slowest (7.7 kmph) among the 300 Indian roads analysed while Hyderabad’s Outer Ring Road (60 kmph) the fastest. Also, morning commutes (8am -11am) are slightly faster than those in the evening (5pm- 8pm).

Thousands of senior scientists and engineers at ISRO have suffered a pay cut following the withdrawal of two additional increments from July. The Centre cited salary revisions under the 6th Pay Commission and launch of performance-related incentives (up to 40% of basic) for the discontinuation of the increments, introduced in 1998 to retain and motivate employees. The amount of the pay cut wasn’t clear, but an unidentified scientist told New Indian Express it would be ?10,000 per month on average. The move has caused discontent across ranks, with the Space Engineers Association demanding that the decision be reversed.

Google, Facebook and their ilk may soon have to sell citizens’ non-personal data to any government or private entity seeking it, Economic Times reports. The electronics and IT ministry is working on guidelines that will make it mandatory for companies to share public information collated in the course of their operations, including traffic, purchase and illness trends. The rules, an official said, are aimed at helping firms monetise data and promoting healthy competition. The ‘Seven Super’ companies – Microsoft (LinkedIn’s parent), Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Tencent and Alibaba – account for two-thirds of the total data market by value, according to UNCTAD.

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India abused its dominant market position by curtailing discounts that dealers could offer customers, a Competition Commission of India probe reveals. The company arm-twisted dealers into accepting slow-moving stock and made them sell select oil and battery brands, earning hundreds of crores in commissions. The anti-trust watchdog claims to have emails and employee depositions as evidence of the wrongdoings even as the two-wheeler maker is yet to respond to the findings. Experts say that guidelines on prices and promotion of products from select brands are rampant across the industry. Join the conversation.

Idea of the Day: Awareness brings freedom from fixed beliefs and habits, says Deepak Chopra, founder of the Chopra Foundation.

“It is much better to be more aware than smarter. Being more aware will also make you smarter in the bargain, because a conscious person makes better choices than an unconscious person.”

- LinkedIn Editors India/Share this using #DailyRundown