What: Wipro is believed to have fired 700 people and IBM 600 in recent times for fudging their resume

Why and how: Industry execs say the IT industry can't have enough of people with between three and six years experience, and that in an effort to meet the almost insatiable demand for such IT pros, unscrupulous search firms and placement consultants are helping candidates fudge their credentials

Behind the scenes: One industry exec claims such misrepresentation is a way of life in the industry and that companies condone them as long as candidates perform well. It is only when the candidates do not deliver, he adds, that they come down hard

Larger issue: "This is not specific to one company and is an industrywide problem," says Achutan Nair, Vice President (Strategic Resourcing), Wipro. "The whole industry should join hands in tackling this menace."

-Venkatesha Babu

Community Computing

What: A community PC platform, designed and developed exclusively to meet the needs of rural users

Who: The platform has been launched by Intel, the world's largest chipmaker; several OEMs, including HCL Infosystems, are its partners

What else: Intel lists five unique things about the community PC, ruggedness, its ability to work on a 12V lead-acid battery that can be charged by pedalling a stationary bike (a single charge lasts for six to eight hours), one-touch recovery, asset management (vendors can go for the EMI-system, and the PC will need a 30-digit code to be entered at regular intervals, which they can provide after the EMI has been paid), and it runs a range of locally relevant applications (think telemedicine, weather reports, mandi prices, access to land records and the like)

How much: No one is telling, although this magazine expects it to be around Rs 30,000 (with a colour monitor, but without the battery and the stationary bike; an LCD monitor would cost an additional Rs 5,000

-Shaleen Agrawal

Fudged Resumes And More

So, what do people fudge in resumes. Audit firm KPMG has the answer in its India Fraud Survey Report, 2006. The most commonly fudged detail has to do with salaries (see Misleading Information In Resume). That, though, is not as worrying as the fact that the threat of fraud (defined for the purpose of the study as "any dishonest activity involving the extraction of value from a business, directly or indirectly, regardless of whether the perpetrator benefits personally from his or her actions") is highest from current employees (see Perpetrators of Fraud). As an area of concern for companies and individuals, however, even that isn't as frightening as the fact that the perceived risk of fraud is highest in the finance sector (see Sector-wise Risk Perceived By Respondents). "The boom in the finance sector... means the risk faced by companies (in this space) is escalating gradually," says Adam Bates, Global Head (Forensic Accounting), KPMG. That it is.

-Manu Kaushik

P-WATCH
A bird's eye view of what's hot and what's not on the government's policy radar.

SETTLING THE OUSTEES

The government has drafted a new law that promises a better deal for tribals and other villagers who are forced to give up their lands for industrial or development projects. Displacement of tribals from their traditional habitats has led to far-reaching social and economic consequences and has fuelled Left-wing extremism in many parts of India. Mooted by the National Advisory Council (NAC), and actively pursued by the government, the law not only promises alternate lands instead of just jobs, but even goes to the extent of allowing the tribal councils to vet the rehabilitation packages. It takes into account empirical evidence that poor villagers usually blow away any cash compensation on consumption expenditure, resulting in the impoverishment of the ousted community. Once enacted, this law is expected to lead to more transparent and equitable distribution of compensation.

-Ashish Gupta

SEBI WANTS BANKS TO DEMATERIALISE PLEDGED SHARES

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) wants banks to dematerialise all shares pledged with them as collateral. The market regulator has told the Indian Bank's Association (IBA) that some listed companies pledge and deposit shares with banks, but, subsequently, obtain duplicate shares which they sell in the market-while the original shares remain in the physical custody of banks. IBA has asked banks to take necessary steps and convert physical shares pledged with them into DEMAT form. Sources reveal that most of these physical shares are held by state-run and co-operative banks. Once these shares are dematerialised, regulators and investors will have a clear idea about their ownership, thus, acting as a hedge against their fraudulent trading on the exchanges.

-Mahesh Nayak

NOT A TAXING EXPERIENCE

Paying taxes will soon become a pleasurable experience (well, almost) for many denizens of India Inc. By December, they will be able to pay their corporate, income, service, and even fringe benefit taxes at one location, with a relationship manager to help them along. This facility, called Large Taxpayer Unit (LTU), will initially be available in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore. The rest of the country will be covered in phases. One objective is to make it convenient for the major tax payers to pay their dues. Another reason, which no one is talking about, is that this will allow the government to scan a company's past and present financial deals in great detail and plug loopholes that lead to leakages. No wonder it has not evoked the kind of enthusiasm that it should have generated. Use of the LTU window will, however, be optional.

-Ashish Gupta

FM Chidambaram: Good news

SPEEDIER REFUNDS

The revenue department will soon notify a new scheme to allow export-oriented units and high-performing export houses to avail up to 80 per cent of their duty refunds within 15 days of filing the request. Currently, the refund of duties occurs within three months. In a bid to restrict the facility to genuine exporters, the speedier refund facility, however, may be permanently withdrawn if an export house is subsequently found to have supplied wrong information or involved in fraud.

NIMBLER PSUS

Public sector units may soon become more nimble-footed. The Finance Ministry may relax guidelines which require them to get Public Investment Board approval for projects of Rs 100 crore and above. This is expected to expedite the decision-making process at PSUs and allow them to move rapidly while chasing and closing deals. The main beneficiaries: PSUs looking to expand abroad. However, the freedom is likely to be restricted to those units which do not seek any budgetary support either for themselves or for their proposed projects.

-Shalini S. Dagar