'Work from home' extended for IT companies till December 31: DoT

New Delhi: The department of telecommunications (DoT) has extended the relaxation in terms and conditions to further facilitate ‘work from home’ (WFH) till December 31 this year. The move has been welcomed by many leaders of the IT industry in India.

Earlier, the Indian government had extended this till the end of July. In March, certain norms of OSOs were relaxed by the DoT till April 30. This was then extended till July 31 as the novel coronavirus contamination increased in the country. India now sits at the third position in list of the world’s worst COVID-19 affected countries in the world.

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Now, looking at the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, this has been extended till December 31. This move alternatively means that various companies can now ask their employees to continue WFH until the end of 2020.

“In the view of ongoing concerns due to COVID-19, the department has decided to further extend these relaxations up to December 31, or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” an order by DoT said. As of now, approximately 85% of the IT workforce is already working from home and only those who are performing critical functions are asked to go to offices.

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These relaxations are for ‘other service provider’ (OSP) licence which is needed for companies to enable WFH. Previously, Nasscom had also written to the ministry of electronics and information technology to make certain relaxations with regards to WFH. However, the industry is now looking to adopt a hybrid model altogether on the back of the pandemic.

Wipro chairman Rishad Premji welcomed the move and took to Twitter to express his views. He wrote, “Thank you to the government for their tremendous support on the new ways of working from day 1. This has helped tremendously in further elevating our standing and responsiveness globally. @rsprasad @DoT_India.”

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MD and CEO of Tech Mahindra also welcomed this move and wrote, “Once again a big thank you from the IT fraternity to @DoT_India @GoI_MeitY @rsprasad for extending the OSP relaxations. Great step to ensure business operates seamlessly in the current environment.”

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“Thank u @rsprasad n Secretary @DoT_India for your strong support for Indian IT. This will ensure business continuity n employee safety.. n also increase our talent pool to tier 2 n 3 cities @keshav_murugesh @rekha_m_menon @tyagarajan @C_P_Gurnani @hvgoenka @RishadPremji @nasscom” wrote Nasscom’s President Debjani Ghosh, thanking Telecom and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and the DoT secretary.