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Contributed on April 5, 2020

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Summary of Advisories issued by Central Government during Covid19 Outbreak

Blog: NASSCOM Official Blog

In the wake of the Covid19 outbreak in India, NASSCOM has been liaising with various Departments and Ministries of the Government of India, keeping safety, outbreak mitigation and business continuity for the industry as a priority. Summary of important advisories issues by Central Government is as follows:

1. Relaxation of Work from Home (WFH) norms under Other Service Providers (OSP) Regime

Department of Telecommunications (DOT), vide notification (No. 18-5/2015-CS-I) dated 13th March 2020, amended the terms and conditions related to WFH for OSP. These amendments are in line with NASSCOM recommendations, which are as follows:

• The condition related to bank guarantee is now removed
• The condition related to requirement of establishing connectivity through PPVPN has also been relaxed and organizations have been allowed to use their enterprise VPN with Static IP connectivity
• The requirement of seeking prior permission from authorities has been exempted and companies can now intimate the authorities before starting WFH facility

The above relaxations are valid up to 30.04.2020. Read here for details.

2. Companies permitted to conduct virtual board meetings to approve financial statements etc.

Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has permitted companies to conduct virtual Board meetings for approval of annual financial statements, Board reports etc. This relaxation is available till June 30, 2020. Read here for details.

3. Relaxation in compliance for Special Economic Zones (SEZ)

Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry has provided certain relaxations in compliances to be met by units / developers / co‐developers of SEZs. Read here for details.

4. Relief measures announced by Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

With a view to provide relief to the Industry due to disruption caused by pandemic COVID-19, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), vide issue of Press Release dated April 1, 2020, has provided relief to the industry by extending the realisation period of export proceeds from 9 months to 15 months for exports, reviewing limits of Way and Means Advances of States/UTs and implementing countercyclical capital buffer. Read here for details.

5. Letter to secretaries on movement of goods

Clarification issued by the Home Secretary on movement of essential goods and migrants. Read here for details.

6. Circular issued by MCA to all Regional Directors, Registrar of Companies and all stakeholders on Companies Fresh Start Scheme,2020

MCA gives an opportunity to defaulting companies to file the belated documents in the MCA-21 registry. Read here for details.

7. Order of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to Secretaries of ministries/department of Govt. of India on lockdown

MHA, vide order dated March 30, 2020 has conveyed to States that any order/clarification on lockdown measures may be issued by MHA only. Read here for details.

8. Order of MHA announcing 21-days PAN -India lockdown order

MHA, vide order dated March 24, 2020, imposed restrictions across India for 21 days beginning 24th March, 2020. IT-ITES for essential services, Telecommunication and Ecommerce delivery of essential goods including food, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment are exempted. Read here for details.

9. Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by MHA for essential supplies

MHA, vide letter dated March 26, 2020, issued SOP for ecommerce allows all entities in the supply chain including warehouses exempted from restrictions imposed by the 21 day lock down order. Read here for details.

10. Advisory issued by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) to State governments to permit IT/ITES industry to carry out essential functions

MEITY has issued advisory to state governments providing list of key essential services supported by the IT-ITeS industry provided to enable State government to support their continued operation. Read here for details.

11. Advisory issued by Department of Telecom to State governments to enable operational continuity of telecom services

DOT, vide letter dated March 24, 2020 has issued advisory to state governments declaring data Ccnters as part of Telecom infrastructure. State government to support their continued operation. Read here for details.

All information relating to NASSCOM’s engagement efforts with the Government are available on the NASSCOM Community Page under the tag ‘Policy Advocacy.’ Latest advisories from the Central Government and State Governments are available on NASSCOM’s Covid19 Advisories Dashboard.

We will keep you posted on further developments in this regard.

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