Kerala - Kochi   

Satyam fiasco affects techies in city

KOCHI: The shock waves generated by the Satyam fiasco have dashed the hopes of hundreds of B.Tech students in the city who have got placement offers from the Hyderabad-based company.

A preliminary estimate revealed that at least 300 youngsters from premier colleges and second-rung institutions in the city have been awaiting the final call from the company. They were part of the 6,500 fresh recruits across the country who received offer letters during campus recruitments from Satyam in 2008.

Cochin University of Science and Technology alone has nearly 60 students (July, 2008 pass-out) waiting to hear from the HR department on their joining dates.

Model Engineering College (MEC) at Thrikkakara was not behind, with almost the same number (around 60, June 2009 pass-out) expecting the call from the company headquarters in Hyderabad. An exact number of the hopefuls could not be ascertained, as the company had also given offer letters to candidates based on a test conducted by a private recruitment agency.

Confirming that many of his friends, who received placement offers from Satyam, had failed to receive proper intimation on the joining dates, N. Sadashiv of MEC said that the company authorities had asked the students to update their profiles but they could not give any assurance on the possible date of joining.

The news that broke on Thursday that Satyam may lay off over 10,000 employees next month has virtually sealed the dreams of the young techies. Mathew Koshy (name changed), a B.Tech mechanical student, who had received the job offer from Satyam, said that the company was left with no cash to pay the salaries, according to reports in the media.

Remya Nair (name changed), another student who got an entry-level offer at Satyam, said that she also came across reports that about 20,000 employees of Satyam had posted their resumes on job sites.

“How can we expect a call when the existing employees themselves are trying to get out of the company?” she asked.

Sidhharth V., a B.Tech computer science student, who had been waiting for the joining letter for the past six months, said that the company authorities had given them false hopes by saying that they would honour each and every offer letter issued.

Shankar Vasudev, a student of electrical and electronics branch, said that the meltdown has actually trimmed the number of campus placement offers. “Satyam was my only option. I had turned down offers from companies based in Kerala before accepting Satyam’s offer ,” he said.

Admitting that the campus recruitment scene in the State was worse, George Mathew, faculty-in-charge, Training and Placement Cell at the School of Engineering under the Cochin University of Science and Technology, said that companies had stretched the joining date by six to eight months for students who had passed out in July.

“Earlier, some of the companies had told students that they could join by the end of December. But going by the current situation, I do not think when these companies could take in the students,” he said.

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