Telangana: EMI worries haunt retrenched techies

HYDERABAD: Techies, who lost jobs in mass lay-offs in IT companies, are spending sleepless nights, worried over EMI commitments  that they have to fulfill every month. Senior techies availed of different loans like housing loan, vehicle loan or personal loan. And with the hiring slowdown in the IT sector, finding a new job has become a big challenge, especially for experienced techies.

L Vasu, a techie with over ten years of experience, has an EMI commitment of Rs 30,000 per month for availing of a personal loan. He got the shock of his life when his employer put him on the retrenched staff list. Now he is without a job and is concerned about the road ahead for him.

“I can get on for a few months at the most with my savings. But after that if I don’t find a job then it will be difficult to pay the EMI,” the techie, who shifted to Hyderabad from Bengaluru, said.

Kiran Chandra of Forum for IT Professionals was highly critical of IT firms for the way they are dealing with employees in the name of retrenchment. They are summoning employees and telling them to put in their papers (resign) or else termination letters will be issued to those concerned, he said.

“Due to financial commitments like EMIs, it is better for you to resign voluntarily and then find another job. If your company issues a termination letter, it would be difficult to get new employment and it will make your life much harder. Think and take a call. It is up to you,”

This is what the HR people were telling techies who figured in the retrenched list, Mr Chandra said.

Worried over job prospects, techies are settling for resignations by taking compensation of two to four months’ salaries, depending upon their work experience.

Meanwhile, bankers say that they are monitoring the IT crisis and techies’ woes closely.

City bankers stated that the current situation in the IT industry and the lay-offs have been a topic of discussion among public and private sector bankers, since techies constitute a major chunk of loan seekers.

According to Ravi Kumar, a senior official with a public sector bank in the city, stated that a majority of IT employees, especially, with a few years of experience, avail of different type of loans to get tax exemptions. IT professionals get decent salaries and hence they mostly seek loans on housing, vehicles and even personal loans.

“At present not many cases of techies stopping payment of monthly installments is being heard of in the city. Although news of mass lay-offs in increased numbers compared to the past are making the rounds, banks did not have an impact until now. The fact that missing a single payment might affect their credit scores is ensuring techies  pay EMIs without fail in the last two months,” he said.

Mr Kumar said that there can be an impact on EMI payments from August if the retrenched techies are unable to get new jobs.