At home in a coronavirus world: IT companies manage change and disruption

India's biggest IT firms moved swiftly when a lockdown became imminent in March. How prepared are they to deal with the challenge of clients reducing spending on technology or asking for discounts?

The neigbourhood liquor shop and airlines are among businesses humming back to life as India eases a weeks-long lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic. For the IT services sector, which employs about 4.3 million people and depends heavily on global clients, returning to work will be vastly different.

Companies for one or two years will have smaller teams that work from home, collaborate virtually and sporadically travel to office, said industry leaders and executives. Only work involving sensitive information, like banking transactions and government data, will return to offices under rules for social distancing and hygiene.

Indian IT — led