As India grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, the Central government on Tuesday, April 28, extended the relaxed connectivity norms for ‘work from home’, applicable to information technology (IT) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies, till July 31.
Earlier, companies were not allowed to connect office Virtual Private Network to home infrastructure. However, given the pandemic, this rule was relaxed till April 30 and now has been extended till July 31. The decision came following a meeting between Union Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Ravi Shankar Prasad and state IT Ministers.
Prasad later clarified that there was the only relaxation in norms and not an extension of work from home.
‘Wish to clarify that it is not an extension of #WFH. In response to the IT Industry’s request to facilitate WFH for OSPs, @DoT_India had relaxed terms & conditions for VPN till 30.4.20. After discussions with IT Ministers this relaxation in terms & conditions is extended till 31.7.20,’ the minister tweeted.
Wish to clarify that it is not extension of #WFH. In response to IT Industry’s request to facilitate WFH for OSPs, @DoT_India had relaxed terms & conditions for VPN till 30.4.20. After discussions with IT Ministers this relaxation in terms & conditions is extended till 31.7.20 https://t.co/UwSH704xc5
— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) April 28, 2020
The IT ministers’ meeting was attended by the Chief Ministers of Haryana and Sikkim, Deputy Chief Ministers of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. Apart from the IT secretaries of all states, state IT Ministers from twelve states, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Kerala and Maharashtra, were also present at the meeting.
‘Given that work-from-home is going to be the new normal for some time, the decision to extend timelines is a welcome move. It will help companies plan their return-to-office strategy in a phased manner,’ Nasscom Senior Vice-President and Chief Strategy Officer Sangeeta Gupta told PTI.
The industry body said that the extension of relaxed norms for other service providers (OSPs) to facilitate ‘work from home’ will help IT and BPO firms plan their strategy of bringing back workforce to offices, in a gradual and phased manner.
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