WFH to continue for some more months, won’t ask IT companies to open offices: Karnataka Dy CM Ashwath Narayan

There’s no thought in the government to ask companies to open their offices, said Ashwath Narayan

The state government “cannot” and “will not” ask IT companies to open up office spaces, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan told the Legislative Assembly on Thursday.

Replying to a question raised by Hoskote MLA Sharath Bachegowda, Narayan said the work from home arrangement will continue for “some more months” because of the Covid-19 pandemic situation.

“The government cannot mandate companies to open offices. Eventually, they will open up. When the time is right, they will take a call on this. There’s no thought in the government to ask companies to open their offices. Also, the situation isn’t right for us to ask them to,” Narayan, the IT/BT minister said.

The IT sector in Karnataka had performed well in spite of the Covid-19 pandemic, Narayan said. “Technology came to the rescue. Startups and innovation haven’t stopped,” he pointed out.

IT companies in Karnataka, especially Bengaluru, closed their offices as early as March due to Covid-19, asking employees to work remotely. The Centre has extended connectivity norms for work-from-home for IT and BPO firms till December 31, 2020.

“Only 7-8% of the workforce is working while the rest are working from home. Because of work-from-home, productivity has gone down,” Bachegowda, who was a corporate executive before entering politics, said. “We should bring pressure on companies to open offices.”

Udupi MLA K Raghupati Bhat concurred. “The government has allowed work-from-home till December-end. With IT companies yet to open, cabs and other dependent livelihoods are getting affected,” he said.

Narayan maintained that work-from-home was a solution. “Once offices open up, ancillary services will also pick up,” he said.

Over 3,000 cos took part in Bengaluru Tech Summit

In a written reply, Narayan said some 3,099 companies and firms took part in the Bengaluru Tech Summit held last month. “Eight significant agreements were made with Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) nations in the areas of startups, health, life sciences, biotechnology, defence, space, sports, education and others. Of them, Finland and Sweden have signed the agreement and the process is underway with six other countries,” he said.