Govt Relaxations through Lockdown; The IT World Reacts

The Ministry of Home Affairs  has circulated a notice in which the lockdown because of Corona Virus outbreak,  has been extended till 3rd of May. However, certain industrial activities have been allowed to function under certain guidelines.

Within the IT sector, following are allowed to operate -

1 - Print and Electronic Media

2 - IT and IT-enabled service at 50% strength

3 - Datacentres and Call Centres for government activities only

4 - Government approved CSCs at Gram Panchayat level, which mostly function with a cloud-enabled digitised kiosk

5 - E-commerce companies with permission letters

6 - Logistics supply chain

7 - Self -employed electricians and IT mechanics

8 - Manufacturing of IT Hardware

The business employers are required to provide lodging spaces to their  daily wage labourers within the factory premises with food, medical facilities, sanitisation and distancing spaces. They are not supposed to terminate jobs of their employees  or to deduct salaries on account of lockdown.

The IT business leaders have given their comments largely supporting the  directive of the government.

"Opening industries will be a good decision as the footprint of people on landmass is very low compared to IT companies. Generally, completely automated plants like ours will have only 150 people in an area of 150,000 SQT and ramping up the production will take around 15 days. In the meantime, we hope other allied services, like transport, remain active. Generally, Green Field Projects of 200,000 SFT will have manpower of around 2000 people. With proper people management with, proper masks, social distancing, personal hygiene and public hygiene measures the pandemic can be effectively managed without hampering business continuity."

--Ravi Raj U,  Brand Head,    Director , Sales    &   Support ,    NetRack

"The government has extended the world's biggest lockdown till  3rd May 2020 and ATEN supports the step taken by the Indian government for the health and safety of the citizens. We encourage our colleagues, business partners and customers to practice social distancing and safety norms in place and help in containing the spread. Businesses across the world are redefining their operations to adapt to this change and IT and ITES are no different. Business Continuity and disaster management are activated and rethinking of core business and operation models are taking place across the industry to cope with this disruption".

--Sunayana Hazarika,   Marketing Manager,    ATEN

"The extension of the lockdown while it looks like a necessary step from the 'flattening of the curve' perspective, the government's thought of giving some ease in some areas is a hugely welcome step. With the initial 3-week lockdown being a success especially here in Bangalore where the containment has been very good, the government should consider partial opening up of some segments of the business. IT and as well non-IT both need to be opened up in a controlled manner so as to minimise the economic damage that is being seen right now - for the potential damage on the economic front even in short term can be more concerning".

--Prashanth G J, CEO,   TechnoBind

While the IT vendors support the move, the channel community is worried about not being able to abide by the instructions to provide sanitisation, distancing space and to carry the  financial load through the losses they are facing. It is for the  IT vendors should help the channel community tide over these times. Several IT vendors have come out to help the channels but more assistance is required.