As it grapples with post-tsunami events, Mahindra Satyam said it can fall back on an arrangement with the Singapore Government for getting more visas if need be.

“We can relocate our employees from other locations overnight to Singapore and start functioning. We have blanket permission in this regard. It (the arrangement) has been in force for a few years and in case of disasters in any of our delivery locations we can shift our staff,” Mr Rohit Gandhi, Head of Asia-Pacific region of Mahindra Satyam, told Business Line over phone from Singapore.

The company has a Data Centre in Singapore and Global Delivery Centre in the neighbouring Malaysia.

He, however, said movement of staff would be customer dependant. “Most likely the customer preference would be India because we run significant offshore facilities for our Japanese clients from India. None of them approached us as yet. They are, like us, keeping a very close watch,” he said.

Of 100 employees it has in Japan, 35 per cent are from India and the rest from the local market. “We have given them the option of coming back to India till the situation improves,” he said.

For now, it asked its employees to work from home as logistics services were hit due to power shortage.

Impact on business

Asked whether the disaster would have fallout on business prospects of IT industry, he said there could be some impact. “For now, it seems the industry could take the pressure. If any further problems arise (follow-up earthquakes as forecast by local meteorological department and nuclear radiation threat), it would sure have an impact,” he said.

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