NEW DELHI: The$ 5-billionplus Tech Mahindra said that the coronavirus will bring down revenues of the Indian IT industry as international line-ups will slow down amid the pandemic. The crisis is “much worse from an financial impact” point of view compared to what the industry had suffered during the world financial meltdown of 2008-09. Likewise, on-site personnel deployment outside India will come down and software teams will increasingly work out of India, Tech Mahindra MD& CEO C P Gurnani said. “There will clearly be a slowdown. The question is how long and how much? The slowdown is inevitable, ” Gurnani told TOI Dialogues in a special series on the Indian IT industry and the impact of the coronavirus.The Tech Mahindra boss said, “There will be a lag, and that lag will hit their own economies. My belief is that it is already hurting us … So, there will be a drop in the revenues.”Tech Mahindra has over 1.2 lakh employees and gets a large part of its business from sells across Europe and the US, apart from India.Gurnani said that while the focus on network and assistances, and media and leisure will keep the situation under control for Tech Mahindra, there are other areas where companies got to find the going tough for a few quarters.“I don’t want to be negative, but everyone is common knowledge that the businesses are impacted. If a motorcycle producer is not manufacturing motorcycles, he is not going to give me a new conversion programme. If you do not fly, clearly the airline industry is not going to give me a new campaign. So, it is clear that there will be a slowdown.”Gurnani said that there will be two one-quarters of stress if the second brandish( of the pandemic) is not very strong. “Of course, all of us will live in suspense till a inoculation is discovered. My best forecast at this stage is that October onwards, there will be a recovery in Indian IT and the world IT spends.”Speaking about cyber security, Gurnani said that there is a need to be vigilant against fraudsters, hackers and online crimes. “I don’t think we make cyber insurance dangerously fairly. My personal sentiment is that the next beckon of panic can only come through cyber security lapses and all of us need to be prepared for it.”Asked whether India is under-prepared in terms of cyber security, he said, “ … if you choose not to be prepared, and take it lightly, then it is a serious threat. Your risk management policy should prepare you for that highest risk.”

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