Here’s How Many Nifty 50 Companies Are Operational Now

As India entered the third phase of the lockdown to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, the government allowed economic activity to resume with conditions. Nearly all firms in the Nifty 50 index have resumed operations.

The home ministry has permitted businesses to start operations even as the lockdown was extended till May 17. In red and orange zones where the case load is higher, manufacturing units of essential goods, including drugs, pharmaceuticals, IT hardware, medical devices, their raw material and intermediaries, and private offices can operate with up to 33 percent strength. In green zones, all activities are permitted except those that are prohibited throughout the country irrespective of the zones. States can, however, tighten the guidelines based on the situation but can’t dilute them.

Here’s a snapshot of how Nifty 50 companies are operating:

Auto

Having sold not even a single car during the lockdown in April, Indian automakers has resumed operations with curtailed capacity.

India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. said on Tuesday that it has resumed operations at Manesar, Haryana, after around 40 days of closure. A company spokesperson said it has already made 1,600 deliveries after starting production.

But it’s operating with up to half the employees in single shift despite the permission for 75 percent strength, the company said. And manufacturing is yet to resume at its Gurugram plant.

Tata Motors Ltd., the maker of trucks and cars, resumed selective operations at its Sanand, Gujarat, and Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, plants.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. started tractor production at Rudrapur in Uttarakhand, Nagpur in Maharashtra, and Mohali in Punjab. It is yet to resume car production.

Hero MotoCorp Ltd., India’s largest two-wheeler maker, Bajaj Auto Ltd., and Eicher Motors Ltd. have also resumed manufacturing and retail operations.

Having opened dealerships and service centres from May 4, Bajaj Auto said all the facilities have been were sanitised prior to restarting operations and social distancing and screening protocols are in place at all customer-facing touch points at dealerships.

For the auto industry, getting temporary workers—a big chunk of the workforce—back at the facilities won’t be easy.

“80 percent of the temporary workforce has now gone back home or are stuck somewhere because of the lockdown,” Ajmer Singh, Maruti Suzuki Workers Union leader, said over the phone. “There is also fear among the workers to come back and work.”

Also Read: Migrant Workers in India May Shun Cities After Lockdown

IT Firms

Software services providers continued operations through the lockdown as up to 90 percent of the employees of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Infosys Ltd., Wipro Ltd., HCL Technologies Ltd. and Tech Mahindra Ltd. were able to work from home.

TCS, in a conference call after its fourth-quarter earnings, said based on initial findings, it doesn’t need to have more than a fourth of workforce at its facilities in order to be 100 percent productive.

But with restrictions easing, companies like Infosys have opened their offices in Mangaluru, Bengaluru, Mysuru, Thiruvananthapuram, Pune, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Jaipur with up to 5 percent staff, following all Covid-19 containment protocols.

Also Read: Indian IT Firms’ Covid-19 Working Model Is Here To Stay

Consumer Goods

Hindustan Unilever Ltd., ITC Ltd. and Nestle India Ltd. and other companies that make essential items continued operations during the lockdown after facing problems initially.

HUL said in a post-earnings conference call that its capacity utilisation stands at 70-80 percent. ITC, the maker of Aashirvaad atta, also has factories manufacturing food and hygiene products running, while Nestle also started production.

Jewellery-to-watches maker Titan Co. Ltd., however, had to shut all its stores across the country. As India entered the third phase of the lockdown, the company said in a statement that it would open 50 stores from May 10 with increased hygiene standards.

Asian Paints Ltd. said in an exchange filing on May 5 that it has partially resumed operations at some of its manufacturing locations, warehouses and offices where lockdown restrictions have been eased. The company didn’t give details on capacity utilisation.

Financial Services

Being an essential service, most banks remained operational with reduced staff strength at branches. Bajaj Finserv Ltd. and Bajaj Finance Ltd. have opened 350 offices across green and orange zones out of its 2,000-odd offices across the country.

Media

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. didn’t see any impact on programming during the lockdown.

Power

Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. and NTPC Ltd. continued operations but at reduced capacities as demand from industries fell during the lockdown.

Telecom

Tower firm Bharti Infratel Ltd. and carrier Bharti Airtel Ltd.’s operations remained uninterrupted.

Oil & Gas

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. said on Monday that it restarted several of its refineries at 60 percent capacity as demand for fuel rises gradually. It plans to increase its capacity utilisation to 80 percent by the end of the month. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. and GAIL (India) Ltd. are also running at lower capacities.

Pharma

Medicines being an essential commodity, none of the pharma companies had to shut operations during the lockdown.

Metals

JSW Steel Ltd. said on May 4 that it commenced operations and is gradually ramping up capacity. Tata Steel Ltd. has been operating some of its factories but highlighted logistics issues and lower demand. Vedanta Ltd. remained operational as it brought workers to sites as per the government’s guidelines.

Others

UPL Ltd. said in an exchange filing that all its factories around the world were operational. It, however, didn’t give details at what levels of capacity they were operating.

Grasim Ltd. said in an April filing that capacity utilisation was 20-30 percent as not all its plants were operational. It was looking to resume operations at these plants.

UltraTech Cement Ltd. also informed exchanges on April 19 that resumed operations at some of its locations after the government eased restrictions.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd., categorised under essential service, remained operational throughout the lockdown while following physical distancing.