The World Trade Center in association with Indo American Chamber of Commerce conducted a webinar on “COVID 19 – Impact on IT/ITeS companies”. Mr. Georgy Mathew, Senior Partner and Mr. K.P. Srinivas, Senior Partner, Varma & Varma were the speakers. This session was attended by IT/ITeS company representatives from across the country. 

Mr. Georgy mentioned that the COVID-19 had struck at the end of the financial year while India is witnessing a 6-year low GDP growth. Through a survey done among IT units, he explained the challenges faced by them when ‘Working from home’. These include availability of hardware, information security, connectivity and employee productivity. He added that sales team are now forced to close deals online rather than face to face meetings. From the financial perspective, loss of revenue, burden of employee costs, delays in collection of receivables, mounting of fixed costs on infrastructure etc. are major concerns. Mr. Georgy opined that post COVID-19, companies need to focus on receivables, prompt refunds and thereby optimizing costs. Diverted funds can be brought back and units should be encouraged to take up projects even with marginal profits.

 Mr. Srinivas spoke about the regulatory aspects pertaining to income tax, transfer pricing, labour laws, RBI updates, companies act, foreign trade policy and indirect taxes. The session also provided an opportunity for participants to clear their queries with the speakers. Mr. Sathyanarayanan, Committee Member, Indo American Chamber of Commerce and Mr. Vivek George, Manager, WTC Kochi and Chennai also spoke.