The Centre has amended the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) rules allowing IT/ITES units in SEZs to permit 100 per cent of their workforce to work from home (WFH) till December 31, 2023, provided unit owners intimate the same to the Development Commissioner of the zones and continue to operate from the premises as per their letter of approval.

The new rules would also apply to employees in SEZ units who are temporarily incapacitated, are travelling or are working offsite, per a notification issued by the Department of Commerce on Thursday.

To maintain list

“The unit shall not be required to submit the lists of employees who are allowed to follow work from home or from any place outside the SEZ, but shall maintain in the unit the lists of employees who had been permitted to work from home or from any place outside,” the notification stated.

The new rules take care of all major demands put forth by IT units operating from SEZs which included having the flexibility to allow as many workers to WFH as required for a longer period of time, and also doing away with the hassle of submitting the names of workers being allowed WFH.

Maintain physical presence in SEZs

The provision requiring SEZ units, that allow WFH to its employees, to continue to operate from the premises as per their letter of approval is likely to ensure that units continue to maintain their physical presence in the SEZs and developers earn revenue.

In July this year, the Commerce & Industry Ministry notified a new rule–Rule 43A Work from Home in SEZ Rules, 2006–across all SEZs, providing validity to extension of WFH for certain categories of employees,including those working in IT/ITES units for a one year period, but up to a maximum of 50 per cent of total employees. It said that higher ceiling could be allowed only with special permission.

Reluctant to return

Following the notification of the new rules in July, IT companies represented to the government that a large part of their workforce had moved to their home-towns during the Covid-19 induced lockdown. They sought more time to bring them back as they said that workers were reluctant to return to their work places.

Many SEZ developers were not in favour of WFH as they were apprehensive about losing customers for the office space they had created.

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