As the coronavirus pandemic pushes india into a lockdown, the call centres and IT services firms that function as the world's back office are struggling to piece together work-from-home solutions and other business-continuity plans. prime minister narendra modi on tuesday ordered 1.3 billion indians to stay at home for 21 days to stem the spread of SARS-CoV-2, following earlier lock-down orders in many indian cities and states. As of tuesday, india had reported over 500 cases of the virus and nine deaths.
Many of the companies that provide business services such as call centres, information technology services and business process automation were not prepared for work-from-home arrangements, according to interviews with more than a dozen employees of several companies.
That raises questions about whether one of India's showpiece industries can function smoothly amid the coronavirus crisis. The industry has been scrambling to set up its own business continuity plan," said R. Chandrashekhar, a retired federal government official and a former president of India's IT services lobby group, NASSCOM.Indian software services firms, led by Tata Consultancy services and Infosys, gained prominence by giving Western clients low-cost solutions to routine computer problems. Over time, they assumed a major role at many global companies.
