Archives for June 2021

MUMBAI: Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran on Thursday said even though a “hybrid” model will be the new normal in future, India’s largest software exporter TCS will ask employees to come to work once the pandemic is over as social interactions are a social necessity.

“I do want to make the point that people need to meet people. It is a social necessity. So, there will be a shift towards moving people to work when the pandemic gets over,” Chandrasekaran, who also chairs TCS, said at the company’s annual general meeting.

At present, 97 per cent of the company’s staff have been working from their homes because of the pandemic, he said, admitting that a “hybrid” model where people work from homes and also from offices will be the new normal.

TCS believes a “significant number” of people will be working from home in the future, he said, adding, “the future of work will be somewhat hybrid where some people will work from home, sometimes people will come to the office. So, the hybrid will likely be the new normal.”

“We still believe that offices will be needed. The occupancy levels may go down. There will be lot more collaboration spaces in offices once people start coming in to work,” he said, answering a shareholder query on what happens to real estate and the huge campuses that it has built.

It can be noted that after the emergence of the pandemic, the company had first spelt out its 25-by-25 strategy, which said that at any given point of time a fourth of its staff will be working from the offices by 2025.

Chandrasekaran said the company was quick to shift work to the new normal after the country was put under a lockdown and ensured that all the necessary work happened at the backend, including shifting of computers and establishing security protocols.

He said 5 per cent of its 4.88 lakh workforce was impacted by COVID-19 infections and added that 80 per cent those affected have already recovered.

Replying to a query on employees’ mental well-being while working from homes, Chandrasekaran said the human resources department has reached out to every single employee and also developed in-house tools to discuss other issues beyond work and also indulge in hobbies like art and films.

He said the company employs 150 nationalities at present and follows a pattern of investing in people in all the markets it operates from, he said, pointing out that it has 15,000 people in Latin America.

Visa issues, which had been a dominant concern earlier, were not faced during the pandemic as a lot of work got shifted to be done from home, Chandrasekaran said.

When asked about fears of rising political instability in the world, he said TCS has a risk management framework which assesses the threats and how to mitigate the same.

At a time when many rivals are investing in 5G technologies, Chandrasekaran said the area is of interest to TCS as well and identified as an “important growth area” in the future.

Some companies grow in size through acquisitions, he said, adding that while TCS is not hesitant to do acquisitions, it will evaluate every proposal to ensure that growth happens with profitability.

The Indian market has been volatile, and the COVID pandemic has impacted the maintenance-focused projects, he said, adding that a large number of projects which come up are development or transformation-oriented in which TCS participates.

He said the company is probably the one which has worked the most for Indian government and state-run enterprises, and specified its work for Income Tax Department and the Passport Seva project as examples.

It has 700 micro, small and medium enterprises in the country working as vendors for it at present and has joined a trade receivables platform, he said.

The company witnessed 27 complaints of sexual harassment made against staffers in FY21 and each of the complaint will be followed as per law and action taken if an allegation is substantiated, he assured.

Earlier, both Chandrasekaran and its Rajesh Gopinathan, its CEO and MD, said that the company is at the cusp of a multi-year growth given how technological play is shaping up.

Chandrasekaran said the COVID pandemic advanced the technology adoption by at least ten years.

HYDERABAD:  Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman responded positively to Telangana Finance Minister T Harish Rao’s request to increase the borrowing limit under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act from the present four per cent to five per cent.

If the Centre increases the borrowing limit to five per cent, the State can raise an additional Rs 10,500 crore loan in the current fiscal. The State has proposed to borrow Rs 49,300 crore State Development Loans in the 2021-22 Budget. It may be mentioned here that the State has already raised loans of Rs 7,500 crore so far in the first quarter of the current fiscal and is raising another Rs 3,000 crore State Development Loan on June 15. Harish Rao supported the GST Council’s decision to reduce the tax on Covid-19 related materials.

He wanted the Centre to provide Covid-19 vaccine doses to the States at the earliest and import vaccine doses as per the country’s requirement. The vaccination drive should be expedited in the wake of warnings of a third wave of Covid- 19, he suggested to the Centre.

VIJAYAWADA: Kuchipudi police booked a case under various sections of POCSO Act against a 20-year-old boy for impregnating a minor girl by cheating her on the pretext of marriage on Saturday. 

The accused Durga Rao happens to be the neighbour of the victim and is reportedly married and has two children. According to Avanigadda DSP Mahaboob Basha, the accused was identified as a resident of ST Colony in Nudumolu Brahmana Cheruvu village and working in a private company in Avanigadda. 

The accused developed acquaintance with the victim girl which turned into a relationship. Promising the girl to marry her, the accused exploited her sexually. Upon learning of the incident, the parents of the girl filed a complaint leading to the arrest of the accused. 

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Saturday asked its leaders to follow the party’s stance on the issue of abrogation of Article 370 as articulated in the August 6, 2019 resolution of the CWC, after its leader Digvijay Singh’s remarks sparked a row.

He was responding to a question about the “way forward” on the issue “once the Modi government is gone”.

The BJP launched a scathing attack on Singh and top party leaders, accusing them of speaking “the language of Pakistan” and spewing venom against India.

“The Congress Party has clearly stated its position on Jammu and Kashmir, in its resolution of August 6, 2019 of the Congress Working Committee. This is the only official stance of the party.”

“I urge and request all senior leaders to refer to the same,” Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said, when asked about Singh’s remarks.

The CWC resolution of August 6, 2019 had said that it “deplores the unilateral, brazen and totally undemocratic manner in which Article 370 of the Constitution was abrogated and the State of Jammu and Kashmir was dismembered by misinterpreting the provisions of the Constitution.”

“Every principle of Constitutional law, states’ rights, Parliamentary procedure and democratic governance was violated,” the opposition party alleged “The Indian National Congress pledges to stand with the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh and to fight the BJP and its divisive and diabolical agenda with every power in its hands. We urge the people of J&K to maintain peace and calm,” it said.

The CWC “strongly reaffirmed the consistent and stated position” of the Indian National Congress that J&K, including the areas under the illegal occupation of Pakistan and the part ceded by it to China, are an integral part of the Republic of India.

The integration of J&K with India is final and irrevocable, it said, “The CWC firmly asserted that all issues pertaining to J&K are internal matters of India and no outside interference will be tolerated,” the resolution had further said.

Singh’s remarks to a person, who the BJP said was a journalist of Pakistani origin, were seized by saffron party leaders on Saturday to unleash a torrent of criticism against the opposition party and demand statements from Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi on the issue.

BHOPAL: A 24-year-old transgender was arrested for hurting religious sentiments after he allegedly danced in a mosque’s campus here in Madhya Pradesh and uploaded the video on social media, police said on Sunday.

He said authorities of the Moti Masjid had lodged a complaint stating that the act of the transgender had hurt their religious feelings.

“The Kinnar danced in the campus of the Moti Masjid and uploaded the video on social media which went viral according to the complaint,” he said.

Kinnar was granted bail hours after his arrest from the police station as the criminal section invoked against him invites less than seven years’ imprisonment if convicted by a court of law, police said.

The Kinnar has more than one lakh followers on social media platforms, according to a police official.