In its guidelines for the extended lockdown issued Friday, the Centre has allowed private companies to operate with up to 33% staff on their premises across all three zones, including in red zones outside containment areas, and permitted cab aggregators and taxis in orange and green zones. On paper, these moves are expected to trigger partial resumption of operations in the services sector. But, on the ground, a number of companies, especially those operating in red zone districts, are not so sure. These firms point to insufficient availability of commuting options and the risk of spread of the disease among employees as reasons for economic activity continuing to stay on hold. The guidelines also prohibit movement of individuals for all non-essential activities between 7 pm and 7 am. Read| Given our constraints, India handled COVID-19 situation very maturely: Dr Harsh Vardhan While allowing a section of the staff to work from offices could be a big relief for the services sector, top executives of leading firms in red zones said they were unlikely to implement the relaxations, terming them “too risky to expand any further beyond the current manner of operation”. “It is a very tough call and I don’t think I am going to take the risk. The virus is very contagious, and even if one employee catches it, the cascading impact is prohibitive,” said the CEO of a leading financial services firm. He said that in the services industry, people are critical and his firm would not take any chances. “There is no back-up for a critical individual and while companies will have to take the call, we would like to continue in the way we are operating right now.” “The extension of the lockdown period for a further two weeks from May 4, with the new guidelines based on the risk profiling of the districts into red (Hotspot), green and orange zones, will allow a calibrated opening of the economic activities,” said Sangita Reddy, President, FICCI, adding, “Though relaxations have been made in the business activities in the green and orange zones, and to some extent in the red zones also, significant part of the economic activity will still remain in abeyance.” An executive from a pharmaceutical company, which has its corporate office in Mumbai’s Lower Parel, said their employees would continue to work from home, since travel “would be an issue” in the absence of local trains. “It would be unfair to expect them to come to office just because we have been allowed to have 33% employees at work. We moved most of the work online anyway during the past 40 days. It is better to wait it out,” the executive said. Officials at leading fast moving consumer goods companies said that while it was too early to take a concrete decision, their HR departments and vertical heads would prepare rosters and see if people, other than those already coming in, were needed in office. “We had no idea of this lockdown being extended, so a couple of days ago, our HR department sent out mails to vertical heads, asking them to mention if they needed more people coming to the office after May 4. Now I think that becomes irrelevant,” a senior executive at an FMCG company said. However, companies in the business-to-business space, which have repeatedly asked for opening up of the economy, said that even if there is a limit of 33%, most departments would want that strength to be present. “In the B2B space, it is always a situation of all hands on deck. But here, the question of which employee lives where comes into play. Our focus and priority will be locally situated employees who can come to office easily,” an executive at a steel company’s corporate office said. An executive at a top fashion and lifestyle brand pointed out that while most of the company’s largest market segments have been classified as red zones, there was a concern of customers not turning up in stores even within green and orange zones, despite sanitisation and social distancing measures. In addition to this, e-commerce companies, which have been allowed to sell beyond the essential category of items in orange and green zones, may also witness hurdles. A majority of the largest fulfilment centres and shipment hubs that service large regions of the country are situated in red zones. “While we will maintain the sanctity of the new guidelines around the red zones, we urge the government to consider the positive role e-commerce can play to get customers the priority products they need in red zones as well, enabling stronger economic support for the small businesses while prioritising safety,” said an Amazon India spokesperson. Two senior executives with leading private sector banks said that while their branches are under essential services and are operating with around 30% of the strength currently, the banks are in “no hurry” to call people to work. “We have the infrastructure to operate our services from home and we will do that for now. We will wait to see how things shape up before calling employees to work,” said one executive.
