Against the backdrop of the fake pilot scam shaking the aviation industry, companies in other sectors have woken up to the need of carrying out background verification of their new as well as existing employees.
Human resource officials of various companies are now cross-checking each and every detail of job applicants prior to hiring them.
The employee verification process includes finding out the genuineness of work experience, educational documents and whether the candidate has any criminal record or not.
"Corporates are certainly becoming more careful and cautious when they are recruiting for the middle and senior level positions. It is a fallout of a series of scams that have hit the country...Satyam scam, fake universities scam, 2G Scam, and the likes of it," said Kanthi Suresh, Director of Konnexions HR Pvt Ltd.
"The unfortunate negative trend will soon lead to a more robust, centralised, and independent candidate verification process on the lines of a banking credit verification system," Suresh said.
According to an industry survey, only 62% of companies have done any form of background check before hiring an employee.
"Global recession coupled with HR scams that have recently hit the headlines including the pilot scam have certainly led to the need for carrying out a comprehensive scrutinisation of employees," said Nikhil Singhal, a human resource manager of an IT firm in Noida.
Unable to verify themselves, companies are now increasingly outsourcing the employee verification process to specialised third party agencies who cross-check each and every detail of the job applicant.
This has become a niche industry, which is still in its nascent stage in India.
According to an estimate, the industry is growing at the rate of 30-40% annually -- a clear indication of how Indian firms are ready to move beyond the traditional internal HR process, which has been found lacking in unearthing the authenticity of submitted data or documents by employees.
The focus at the moment has been more on the newcomers rather than on the ones who have been in the system for a while and proved their credentials over a period of time.
"For the existing employees, we may take a softer stand restricting us to verification and updation of the profiles," said Pramod Kumar, President of management school.
"Certainly after the Satyam scam, followed by the pilot scam which has affected ripples of dubiousness, we have become more focused on optimum and productive allocation of human as a resource.
"We plan to introduce a proactive panel in our HR function so that adequate screening is done for our new recruits and advice our placement associates to follow the same model," he said.
Seventeen people, including three Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) officials, have been arrested since March seven after the fake pilot scam was unearthed by the DGCA.