Cab aggregators Uber and Ola have been impacted due to the coronavirus pandemic. Rides have gone down by a third over the last week in Bengaluru after major companies advised its employees to work from home and restrict travel that is not pressing.
The major chunk of the business for Uber and Ola comes from metros, where the companies have taken a beating, as mentioned in a report in The Economic Times. In Bengaluru, a drivers' association has urged the state governments to persuade lenders to waive off repayments of loans on taxis.
President of OTU Drivers and Owners Association, Tanveer Pasha, told the daily that there has been a 40-50 per cent drop since the last week as employers have asked employees to work from home. "We have approached the state government asking them to get banks to waive off out EMIs for two months at least," stated Pasha.
Those who are travelling for office work have also started using their personal vehicles whenever possible to restrict contact with potential carriers, stated the HR head of a company to the daily.
Pasha told the daily that around 5 per cent of drivers working for the ride-hailing platforms have left Bengaluru for their hometowns fearing that they would be at risk of infection during the job.
On Thursday, Flipkart asked its employees in Bengaluru office to work from home for at least three days. The company's Bellandur office has around 8,000-10,000 employees. The shutdown of the office has been done as a precautionary measure. On Wednesday, one employee each of Dell and Mindtree were tested positive.
Cognizant India also closed its Hyderabad office and asked its employees to work from home. Similarly, Paytm closed its Gurugram and Noida offices after an employee was detected with coronavirus. TCS, HCL Technologies, Nearbuy, Wipro, Twitter are some of the companies to have asked its employees to work from home.
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