The digital economy is critical to the services sector and is important for national growth, a statement issued by the government read.
In the light of the extension of the lockdown in India, the government has declared that the IT sector can function smoothly from April 20. But the clause to be kept in mind is that companies have to function with not more than 50 percent of staff.
India has been under lockdown since March 25. In an address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared the extension of the lockdown till May 3, 2020. He had mentioned that some relaxation may be given to the people after April 20.
In a statement, the government mentioned that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has released some guidelines to permit a few activities in the country.
“Digital economy is critical to the services sector and is important for national growth. Accordingly, e-commerce operations, operations of IT and IT-enabled services, data and call centers for Government activities, and online teaching and distance learning are all permitted activities now,” the government observed.
“Manufacture of IT hardware and important goods and packagings are also allowed,” it stated.
The IT sector will be looking at mitigating losses as many employees are presently working from home. However, the IT sector employers will have to be very careful in making sure that the congregation of employees doesn’t spread the virus more because it can spread easily in an area where several people gather.
The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has been keeping the government in India on its toes. The country has seen close to 12,000 total cases of the disease and out of whom, 392 people have died. It has been urged by experts that lockdown is the best way to ensure that the chain of the spread of coronavirus breaks.
