Operations of IT services companies in Bangalore face potential disruptions, as the city protests a tribunal decision on the sharing of river waters between two states.
The order covers Karnataka, of which Bangalore is the capital, and the neighboring Tamil Nadu state. Besides Indian outsourcers like Infosys Technologies and Wipro Technologies, a number of multinational companies including Dell, IBM and Accenture have global services operations in Bangalore.
The tribunal, set up to arbitrate the dispute, delivered Monday a verdict that has angered the people of Karnataka, who want a larger share of the waters of the Cauvery river. Disputes over sharing the waters of the Cauvery have in the past led to violence in Karnataka.
A verdict over sharing of Cauvery water by another panel, in 1991, sparked off anti-Tamil violence in Karnataka, which left about 18 people dead. Karnataka has a significant number of settlers from Tamil Nadu.
A few Bangalore IT companies closed operations early on Monday, and asked their staff to work from home, as they were worried that news of the order would trigger off violence in the city. Most others however ran their operations normally.
“It is business as usual, as extra police have been deployed, and everything seems under control,” said a spokeswoman for Infosys, of Bangalore. Infosys, which is India’s second largest outsourcer, is in touch with the government, and is evaluating the situation round-the-clock, she added.
Accenture, which also has a large operation in Bangalore, is working normally, said a spokesman for the company. The company has staff working on both day and night shifts.
There have been so far reports of only sporadic protests in Bangalore and surrounding districts. The government of Karnataka deployed about 18,000 police in the city ahead of the tribunal’s verdict.
If violence erupts, or there are calls for strikes, IT companies may have to scale down temporarily their Bangalore operations, as it will become difficult for staff to get to work. Most IT companies like Infosys and Wipro have business continuity plans in place to move work to their facilities in other locations in India.
