Business Line

Bangalore: Tough times are prompting IT companies to shore up resources from unimaginable quarters.

The Bangalore-based Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd is trying to force ex-employees to pay up the dues relating to loans and housing deposits among others.

Sasken, which has been chasing some 100 former employees to recover a little over Rs 1 crore in dues, has published details on the company Web site in a bid to exert pressure.

Moral pressure

“We hope this will exert some moral pressure on them to pay up,” said Ms Neeta Revankar, Chief Financial Officer and Head of Human Resources at Sasken.

The company has tried to stay in touch with these employees over the past four years, trying to unsuccessfully cajole them to pay up, she said.

The dues range from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5.8 lakh.

“It is unfortunate,” Revankar said, when asked about the timing of such an initiative as it coincides with the weak economic conditions. “This is not a new thing. We have been trying to chase these ex-employees for a while.”

Notwithstanding such a measure, Sasken would continue to provide loans and housing deposits to new and existing employees, Ms Revankar said.

Typically, in a weak economy companies aggressively pursue receivables due from clients to shore up revenues. Receivables relating to employee loans and housing deposits are generally treated as bad debts. Such provisions are written back into the profit and loss accounts after recovery and considered as extraordinary income.

Sasken, which is facing an uncertain outlook like other Indian IT vendors, posted a 38 per cent growth in net profit for the quarter to December at Rs 14.4 crore, while its revenues grew by five per cent to Rs 185.1 crore over the previous quarter.

In a bid to control its cost structure, Sasken has introduced a 10 per cent variable component in employee compensation packages starting this month and asked trainees to work for three days a week.