TCS, Infosys, Wipro: IT firms advice employees to work from home during Bengaluru bandh

Major Indian IT companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro, and others have advised employees based out of Bengaluru to work from home on Tuesday, September 26. This is because multiple local organisations have called for a Bengaluru bandh on Tuesday expressing dissent over the Karnataka state government's decision to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.

An employee working out of Infosys' office in Electronics City told Business Today, "We are advised by human resources to work from home today (September 26) due to the bandh. Public transportation has been impacted due to the protests, so it would not have been easier to go to office anyway."

Similar instructions were sent to employees of Wipro, TCS, Accenture, and IBM, Business Today has learned.

An email sent to Accenture employees read, “Employees in Bengaluru are advised to work from home due to the Bengaluru bandh on September 26, Tuesday.”

Several IT companies based out of Bengaluru had been practising a hybrid work model, because of which productivity has not been hampered due to the bandh, an IBM employee said.

“My team had been working in a hybrid arrangement all this time, so it was not much of a difference to be honest,” he noted.

Not just IT companies, consultancies as well as start-ups operating out of Bengaluru have advised employees to work from home.

PwC, one of the big four accounting firms, wrote to employees based out of Bengaluru in an email, “The office will remain shut on September 26. Employees are advised to work from home.”

Furthermore, an employee working in an edtech start-up from HSR Layout, who also lives in the same locality, noted that the area is not as busy as it usually is. “HSR Layout is buzzing everyday, because of the many startups that are based out of here, but today it seems very quiet. The roads are empty, there is no congestion, and ofcourse, the offices are closed,” she noted.

Bengaluru, often called as the tech and start-up hub of India, has over 3,500 tech companies and some 79 tech parks, which have been shut due to the protests, Reuters reported.

Various farmers' and pro-Kannada organisations called for a Bengaluru bandh on September 26, Tuesday, over the Cauvery water dispute with Tamil Nadu. The protesting organizations are demanding the Karnataka government to refrain from releasing more water from the Cauvery river to the neighbouring state.