Manoj Tiwari: We are gripped with a feeling of self-preservation now

What has been the impact of Covid-19 on your business thus far?

The year-end thrust was lost as far new orders and collections were concerned. We had to suspend work at five sites which were supposed to go live on 1 April 2020. I am sure with the new scenario quite a few of these projects will get delayed and that will impact our collections.

In the short term, how are you assessing the risks and planning for the possible impact?

We are gripped with a feeling of self-preservation now. We have to ensure that our employees and our vendors continue to get our support in spite of a cloud on our collections. We will need to ruthlessly cut expenses and brace for a very uncertain times. It is absolutely impossible for us to have any prediction on how the things will unfold. We will need to read the environment and then respond very carefully.

Some businesses have acted, asking staff to work from home, doing daily temperature checks, distributing critical tasks across offices, and restricting travel. What steps have you undertaken?

We have stopped travel. All of us have started working from home with effect from 25 March 2020, so that our customers do not get affected on service front. Our office is closed. We open only for some routine and administrative work for a few hours as per need.

How is your company staying in touch with your partners / customers?

We are in touch with all our customers, prospects and vendors electronically and on phone.

Do you invest in health care and is there a robust system in place?

We have all our employees and their spouses and children covered by health insurance.

One suggestion for the government?

We should balance the lockdown with economy. A longer lockdown will erode financial strength for everyone. Use the lockdown period to create infrastructure and systems so that when we reopen, we are 100 times more prepared to handle the large number of cases which are bound to come up.