The damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic to the IT industry in Q4FY20 and Q1FY21 remains to be seen, but they are sure to be hurt, given the slowdown in global economies.

In a CNBC-TV18 special, CP Gurnani, MD and CEO of Tech Mahindra spoke about the company's focus as soon as the outbreak occurred in India and the measures it took to ensure business continuity.

“The way things are -- with employees working from home – we have around 93 percent workforce in the IT segment. On the BPO front we are at approximately 50 percent levels, while on the network services side we would be at about 40 percent level. So, we have to prioritise business continuity, we have to collaborate with our clients and draw out a plan. Overall I would say that Tech Mahindra has adapted itself very well,” Gurnani said.

“About 6-7 percent of my employees are still going to office every day. There are some clients and certain countries where both, data protection or their own rules on their security systems do not allow us to move to work from home,” he added.

Speaking about orders, he pointed out, “I personally believe in a mixed bag of orders. Some of our services are tailored to work from home, which encourages virtualisation, movement to cloud, these are the works where new orders are coming in. We have new orders coming in cybersecurity as well. But certain areas have been put on hold because at the time automation of the process was not necessary. Hence, I feel it's a a mixed bag – a lot of new orders coming in and a few things are put on hold.”

He also spoke about business growth and said, “The positive side is that there are new businesses in healthcare and there is new business with public sector and government as all sectors are now looking at how to increase coverage in terms of being able to become more responsive with customers.

"I think there is a lot of effort which is going on in the telecom sector, entertainment media, energy utilities, public sector and government. Right now physical retail, travel and hospitality are down, but will spring back pretty fast, but at this stage they are sectors which have pretty much gone into slumber.”

In terms of payments, he said that there have not been any delays in March. “Going forward, a lot depends on how far does the stimulus money reach pockets. For example, healthcare. On one end healthcare needs more technology, better services to its patients, but financially it is one of the most stressed months for them because in their case there is so much of high spending on coronavirus and they are not doing their regular businesses or regular looking after the patients. So, there would be some impact on the cash flow,” he said.