Latest news with #GuruprasadSrinivasan
Business Upturn
03-07-2025
- Business
- Business Upturn
Quess Corp joins ONDC Network, to add 2 million jobs and expand access to verified employment
By Aditya Bhagchandani Published on July 3, 2025, 10:55 IST Quess Corp Limited, India's largest staffing and workforce solutions company, announced its entry into the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) as an Anchor Network Participant in the Work Opportunities domain. With this integration, Quess aims to strengthen India's digital employment ecosystem and has pledged to add over 500,000 verified job listings annually through its mobile-first hiring platform, Hamara Jobs, onto the ONDC network. This initiative will facilitate access to over 2 million jobs over time, connecting job seekers—particularly from Tier II, Tier III, and rural areas—with verified employment opportunities. The platform addresses persistent challenges in the blue- and grey-collar job markets, such as information asymmetry, poor background verification, and slow recruitment cycles, by enabling seamless discovery of job seekers and recruiters across high-demand sectors like logistics, retail, and field services. 'Our integration with ONDC is a pivotal moment for our digital platform business. It opens new avenues for staffing, especially for MSMEs, while enabling millions of job seekers to access meaningful work at scale,' said Guruprasad Srinivasan, ED & CEO, Quess Corp. Echoing the sentiment, Vibhor Jain, Acting CEO & COO at ONDC, added, 'Employment is the next frontier for digital transformation in India. Quess Corp's participation as an Anchor Network Participant will redefine how jobs are discovered and matched, especially in the informal sector.' About Quess Corp Established in 2007, Quess Corp is a global leader in staffing, employing approximately 459,000 people across 8 countries and serving over 3,000 clients in industries such as BFSI, retail, telecom, manufacturing, and IT. Quess is India's #1 staffing company (SIA, 2025), ranked 37th globally, and has been certified a Great Place to Work for six consecutive years. Ahmedabad Plane Crash Aditya Bhagchandani serves as the Senior Editor and Writer at Business Upturn, where he leads coverage across the Business, Finance, Corporate, and Stock Market segments. With a keen eye for detail and a commitment to journalistic integrity, he not only contributes insightful articles but also oversees editorial direction for the reporting team.
Mint
21-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
As job freeze grips India, mid-level managers feel the chill
Next Story Devina Sengupta India's corporate sector is experiencing a significant hiring slowdown, affecting mid-level managers and driven by geopolitical crises and business realignment amid AI's impact. Hiring mandates have dropped by 18-20% across many sectors, with overall unemployment rising to 5.6%. The warning that the hiring mandates in the contract staffing space are going down comes within days of government data showing the unemployment rate rose to 5.6% in May from 5.1% in April. Gift this article From boardrooms to back offices, India Inc. is hitting the brakes on hiring. This time, it's not just about IT—mid-level managers are feeling the freeze, while top roles remain the only sure bet. From boardrooms to back offices, India Inc. is hitting the brakes on hiring. This time, it's not just about IT—mid-level managers are feeling the freeze, while top roles remain the only sure bet. The crisis in the Middle East, poor visibility and business realignment as companies measure the impact of artificial intelligence have caused hesitancy in the job market. Slower hiring in India's private sector mirrors the overall increase in unemployment, driven by fewer rural jobs. 'There is a degrowth in many sectors in terms of headcount addition. When compared quarter on quarter, most of the sectors have shown an 18-20% dip in hiring mandates," said Guruprasad Srinivasan, group chief executive officer (CEO) of staffing firm Quess Corp. 'The sectors are showing a kind of withdrawal symptom from hiring. The year-on-year numbers do not look encouraging either. Quess has about 1,300 open mandates in the IT and Global Capability Center (GCC) sector, about 18% down from the April-June period of last year. Banking and financial services (BFSI) mandates have fallen by at least 20%, while auto and engineering by 13% in the first quarter of the fiscal year, when compared on a like-for-like basis. Srinivasan pointed out that the consumer and retail sector remains flat, while the only sector showing some growth is manufacturing and construction. The drop in hiring mandates at contract staffing firms reflects the increase in the unemployment rate to 5.6% in May from 5.1% in April. It was the domino effect of a shift in rural employment away from agriculture, according to data released Monday by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI). According to the MoSPI, the contraction in agricultural activity affected both men and women in rural areas. Changing tack Quess' rival TeamLease Services has also cautioned about a damp hiring environment. 'There is a relative slowdown in private sector hiring. Of the 600 million people participating in India's labour force, 80 million are employed in the formal sector. When further distilled, 6 million of the 80 million fall into the third-party contract staffing space," said Balasubramanian A., senior vice-president and business head at TeamLease Services. 'There may not be large-scale layoffs, but a measured approach in hiring." Also read: TCS offers vendor bonus to speed up quality hiring According to the Teamlease Employment Outlook report, 47% of employers anticipate workforce expansion, 25% expect reductions, and 28% foresee no change, resulting in net employment change (NEC) of +2.8% in the April-September months of this fiscal. The NEC for the earlier six months (October 2024-March 2025) was +7.1%, signalling a 'deliberate pivot toward demand-sensitive and cost-conscious hiring". The hiring industry includes staffing firms that provide a third-party workforce, where the employee works for a firm but is on the payroll of the hiring vendor. Then, there are recruitment companies that place junior and middle-management executives in companies. Search firms look at hiring top-level executives. Mint detailed in May how large tech-enabled businesses such as Zomato, Cars24, and Gupshup, among others, have laid off employees over the past quarter. Many others, such as Swiggy and Flipkart, have pruned divisions and reassigned staff to other roles. Globally, too, big tech firms like Microsoft are pruning their workforce. Mid-level executives Job opportunities for the middle-order executives were scarce in the April-June period. 'There is a 15% dip in the hiring mandates of executives who have four to eight years of experience in the consumer, pharmaceutical, hospitality and financial services," noted Anshuman Das, chief executive and co-founder of Careernet, a talent solutions provider. But a year-on-year comparison may be unjustified, as Das pointed out. 'When one compares on a like-to-like basis, the drop in hiring mandates will widen because there were no tariff-related challenges and the global uncertainty was still limited to the Russia-Ukraine war." Leadership hiring is turning out to be a mixed bag and some businesses are urgently looking for CXOs. In fact, Mint wrote this week that even in the case of open positions, job seekers are hesitant about joining a new firm as they are afraid of sudden changes in the firm's need for a new person as the geopolitical climate and global economy play truant. The last man in will be the first one out—a fear that has gripped many. 'It is client specific and we are seeing good traction in industrial manufacturing, pharmaceutical, automotive and auto ancillary and Indian firms who want to set up base in Africa and Latin America," said K. Sudarshan, managing director for the search firm EMA Partners India Ltd. He pointed out that the FMCG hiring, on the other hand, is 'tepid". Topics You May Be Interested In Stay updated with the latest Trending, India , World and United States news. Get breaking news and key updates here on Mint!
Mint
21-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Talent freeze: CXOs get picked, mid-level left waiting
From boardrooms to back offices, India Inc. is hitting the brakes on hiring. This time, it's not just about IT—mid-level managers are feeling the freeze, while top roles remain the only sure bet. The crisis in the Middle East, poor visibility and business realignment as companies measure the impact of artificial intelligence have caused hesitancy in the job market. Slower hiring in India's private sector mirrors the overall increase in unemployment, driven by fewer rural jobs. 'There is a degrowth in many sectors in terms of headcount addition. When compared quarter on quarter, most of the sectors have shown an 18-20% dip in hiring mandates," said Guruprasad Srinivasan, group chief executive officer (CEO) of staffing firm Quess Corp. 'The sectors are showing a kind of withdrawal symptom from hiring. Also read: Big Four feel the heat as promotions drop, clients tighten purse strings The year-on-year numbers do not look encouraging either. Quess has about 1,300 open mandates in the IT and Global Capability Center (GCC) sector, about 18% down from the April-June period of last year. Banking and financial services (BFSI) mandates have fallen by at least 20%, while auto and engineering by 13% in the first quarter of the fiscal year, when compared on a like-for-like basis. Srinivasan pointed out that the consumer and retail sector remains flat, while the only sector showing some growth is manufacturing and construction. The drop in hiring mandates at contract staffing firms reflects the increase in the unemployment rate to 5.6% in May from 5.1% in April. It was the domino effect of a shift in rural employment away from agriculture, according to data released Monday by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI). According to the MoSPI, the contraction in agricultural activity affected both men and women in rural areas. Changing tack Quess' rival TeamLease Services has also cautioned about a damp hiring environment. 'There is a relative slowdown in private sector hiring. Of the 600 million people participating in India's labour force, 80 million are employed in the formal sector. When further distilled, 6 million of the 80 million fall into the third-party contract staffing space," said Balasubramanian A., senior vice-president and business head at TeamLease Services. 'There may not be large-scale layoffs, but a measured approach in hiring." Also read: TCS offers vendor bonus to speed up quality hiring According to the Teamlease Employment Outlook report, 47% of employers anticipate workforce expansion, 25% expect reductions, and 28% foresee no change, resulting in net employment change (NEC) of +2.8% in the April-September months of this fiscal. The NEC for the earlier six months (October 2024-March 2025) was +7.1%, signalling a 'deliberate pivot toward demand-sensitive and cost-conscious hiring". The hiring industry includes staffing firms that provide a third-party workforce, where the employee works for a firm but is on the payroll of the hiring vendor. Then, there are recruitment companies that place junior and middle-management executives in companies. Search firms look at hiring top-level executives. Mint detailed in May how large tech-enabled businesses such as Zomato, Cars24, and Gupshup, among others, have laid off employees over the past quarter. Many others, such as Swiggy and Flipkart, have pruned divisions and reassigned staff to other roles. Globally, too, big tech firms like Microsoft are pruning their workforce. Mid-level executives Job opportunities for the middle-order executives were scarce in the April-June period. 'There is a 15% dip in the hiring mandates of executives who have four to eight years of experience in the consumer, pharmaceutical, hospitality and financial services," noted Anshuman Das, chief executive and co-founder of Careernet, a talent solutions provider. But a year-on-year comparison may be unjustified, as Das pointed out. 'When one compares on a like-to-like basis, the drop in hiring mandates will widen because there were no tariff-related challenges and the global uncertainty was still limited to the Russia-Ukraine war." Also read: Jumping jobs? A Supreme Court judgement just made it tough, for freshers Leadership hiring is turning out to be a mixed bag and some businesses are urgently looking for CXOs. In fact, Mint wrote this week that even in the case of open positions, job seekers are hesitant about joining a new firm as they are afraid of sudden changes in the firm's need for a new person as the geopolitical climate and global economy play truant. The last man in will be the first one out—a fear that has gripped many. 'It is client specific and we are seeing good traction in industrial manufacturing, pharmaceutical, automotive and auto ancillary and Indian firms who want to set up base in Africa and Latin America," said K. Sudarshan, managing director for the search firm EMA Partners India Ltd. He pointed out that the FMCG hiring, on the other hand, is 'tepid".
Mint
04-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Staffing firms find it more profitable putting employees in GCCs than IT firms
Bengaluru: Staffing firms and job search platforms such as Quess Corp Ltd, TeamLease Services Ltd and Info Edge (India) Ltd are finding it more profitable to help place experienced professionals at tech centres of the world's biggest companies than pure-play information technology (IT) outsourcers that typically hire freshers in bulk. Better profitability and revenue from global capability centres (GCCs) have helped the staffing firms offset slowdown in their income from the country's $283 billion IT sector, which has gone slow on hiring engineers in the past couple of years. GCCs contributed about 4.2%, or ₹153 crore, of Quess's January-March revenue. TeamLease, on the other hand, got ₹95 crore, or about 3% of its revenue from GCCs, according to its press release. For job platform Naukri's parent company Info Edge, most of the growth of its job-hunting platforms came from GCCs. This business, known as 'Recruitment Solutions,' makes up almost three-fourths, or ₹542 crore, of its overall quarterly revenue. Also read | GCCs prefer hiring leaders from peers than IT services companies Staffing firms recruit employees for GCCs and get a commission for each person onboarded in the captive centre. Quess and TeamLease mentioned that they get more money from placing candidates in GCCs. 'GCC is a high-margin business," Guruprasad Srinivasan, chief executive of Quess, told Mint on Tuesday. 'The space that we operate for GCCs is in 5-8 years of experience, whereas in IT services, it is freshers," added Srinivasan. He added that employing people in GCCs increases profitability because Quess can get more commission for deploying an experienced person in a GCC as opposed to employing a fresher in an IT services company. 'It's 3-4 times higher than what I could do at IT services," said Srinivasan. TeamLease voiced a similar opinion. 'The salaries and margins (for placing candidates in a GCC) are better than the IT services companies. This is largely due to the hiring demand being in high value roles with niche skills," TeamLease said in response to Mint's queries on Tuesday. GCCs also fetched these firms more revenue per employee. 'With GCCs contributing over 60% of our net revenue, they generate higher revenue per associate and contribute meaningfully to margin enhancement," said TeamLease. Even the operating margins of the staffing firms jumped due to GCCs. For Bengaluru-based Quess, India's largest staffing firm, GCCs made up 66% of its ₹77 crore operating profit. This is higher than two years ago when this contribution totalled 45% at the end of the three months through March 2023. 'In specialized staffing, improved GCC mix and operational efficiency have contributed to margin expansion on a year-on-year basis," said Ramani Dathi, chief financial officer of TeamLease, as part of the company's post-earnings interaction with analysts on 21 May. Also read | The boutique consulting firms powering India's next GCC boom Quess and TeamLease ended the three months through March with revenue of ₹3,656 crore and ₹2,868 crore, respectively. Info Edge ended the quarter with ₹750 crore in revenue. Quess, TeamLease and Info Edge ended FY25 with ₹14,967 crore, ₹11,201 crore and ₹2,849.6 crore in revenue, respectively. This growth from captives comes on the back of a decline in revenue from IT service providers. For Quess, recruitment for IT services companies has been low, and GCCs have offset much of the decline. 'As we've called out, I think IT services is still not in the market with open positions and growth. There is still an element of absorption or a decrease in headcount that's happening from the IT services side. I think what we had called out was GCC substituting for that to some extent," said Ashok Reddy, chief executive of TeamLease, as part of the company's post-earnings call with analysts. Quess's Srinivasan voiced a similar opinion, saying 'it's a known fact now there is not much hiring happening in that space." Most of the new onboards at Quess and TeamLease are from GCCs, reflecting the growing importance of the sector. Also read | Captive concerns: Why Cognizant has called out the risk from GCCs For InfoEdge, new recruits are trickling in from GCCs. 'To diversify and expand its client base, the company is strengthening its go to market offerings and acquiring new clients and focusing on the GCC segment," said Kotak Institutional Equities analysts Kawaljeet Saluja, Sathishkumar S. and Vamshi Krishna in a note dated 27 May. According to IT industry lobby National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), there are 1,760 GCCs in India. More than 875, or half of the country's GCCs, are based in Bengaluru, while Hyderabad has about 355. The rest are located in cities such as Delhi-National Capital Region, Pune and Chennai. Nasscom estimates the number of Indian GCCs will hit 2,200 by March 2030, with a market size of $105 billion.
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Business Standard
03-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Quess Corp throws its hat in GCC business to tap $105 bn market by 2030
The new business line, named Origint, will provide end-to-end services to help GCCs set up, scale, and operate high-performance centres across India and key international markets Avik Das Bengaluru Listen to This Article Quess Corp, a staffing and workforce solutions company, is setting up a dedicated business line for global capability centres (GCCs) as it aims to expand its presence in high-margin businesses and capture a share of a market expected to be worth $105 billion by 2030. The new business line, named Origint, will provide end-to-end services to help GCCs set up, scale, and operate high-performance centres across India and key international markets. 'Global enterprises are increasingly seeking more than mere cost savings – they want speed, innovation, and efficiency at scale,' said Guruprasad Srinivasan, chief executive officer and executive director of
