Corporates lose 3,500 crores due to hiring without proper checks

The need for a strict background verification will only increase, as more than 3,500 companies providing fake educational and experience certificates are in existence, according to a white paper released in the city recently. The study also says that 100 million new jobs will be created by 2020 in India, causing rural migration to urban centres — highlighting a need for comprehensive background checks to mitigate criminal risks. 

Former Special Director of CBI, Dr K Saleem Ali, now the CMD of Fourth Force, a recently launched Chennai-based background verification company which conducted this study, says despite repeated cases of fraud, the awareness of the need for verification is low. 

“In Chennai, we anticipate big corporates — where recruitment is high — will need strict background checks. For instance, if an applicant drawing Rs 50,000 claims to get Rs 1 lakh and demands a pay packet of Rs. 1.5 lakh, the situation is alarming,” he explains. 

With a projection of 100 million new jobs by 2020, 80 percent of these opportunities will filled through migration to urban centres. In this backdrop, experts like V. Rajendran, an advocate specialising in cybercrime and banking technology, insist on strict checks, before hiring candidates.

The Chennai Police too has a facility where citizens can request for a verification of tenants or domestic help. A top police officer told DT Next, “We have had many corporates too approaching us for this service.”