India's largest employers have revived or expanded work-from-home (WFH) policies following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to reduce fuel consumption and conserve foreign exchange amid a West Asia crisis that has sent crude oil prices soaring.
Though he wasn't the first to announce, the buzz around remote-work mandates started with RPG Group chairman Harsh Goenka's social media post last Thursday, requiring “all employees who can work from home should be actively encouraged to do so, in line with our Group's Remote Working Policy.”
Known within the group as the “Workplace 2.0” policy, the protocol was introduced during the Covid‑19 pandemic to classify employees by the essentiality of their on-site presence and then prescribe appropriate work-model guidelines. The policy applies to all RPG employees.
Goenka called for curtailed domestic and international travel, switching company-owned vehicles to EVs, and sustainable commute such as carpool and public transportation to save fuel. “Internal reviews, interviews, and routine meetings should be conducted virtually to the greatest possible extent,” Goenka said in his message.
However, most companies are simply reiterating existing guidelines that allow WFH, rather than rolling out new mandates that significantly cut down time that employees spend in office. Modi’s call for work from home, made in a speech last Monday, came just as major employers across IT services, technology and finance were rolling back remote work and enforcing return-to-office mandates.
Consulting firms are using flexible work arrangements to serve their clients while protecting employee well-being and maintaining operational discipline. In a statement on Tuesday, PwC India acknowledged the prime minister's appeal for “restraint and responsible consumption,” underscoring that the firm’s “flexible working framework remains in place” and directing its employees to undertake travel strictly “where there is a clear business need.”
Its rival Deloitte India told Mint that it already follows a hybrid working policy, which the organisation has reiterated. “Professionals have also been asked to defer non-essential corporate travel and leverage online meetings.”
Even essential sectors like banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) have asked senior executives and employees who can work remotely to do so. However, this doesn’t apply to frontline staff involved in branch-level operation.
“We’ve issued clear guidelines on up to two days of remote working as per a pre-assigned roster for our employees. We’ve also invested in digital infrastructure to enable this, including cyber security softwares,” said Amitabh Kumar Singh, the chief human resources officer (CHRO) at IndusInd Bank. “These are not short-term measures, we’ve made it a part of our long-term people practice plan.”
FMCG major Hindustan Unilever, on the other hand, said that it follows a hybrid work model and has reduced travel, and also laid emphasis on renewable energy. “We have transitioned more than 97% of energy used in our operations to renewable energy. Through strategic partnerships, we are progressively scaling up the use of electric vehicles in our end-to-end supply chain network,” the company said in response to Mint’s queries on remote work following Modi's appeal.
Firms such as Tata Motors and ITC also already have a work-from-home policy in place since Covid that they continue to follow, and have issued general advisories on saving fuel internally, Mint has learned. The companies did not respond to Mint's request for comment.
EV push
To be sure, large firms involved in ground-level operations cannot shift to remote work. Take Larsen & Toubro (L&T), where work-from-home is largely impractical for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) projects that run across hundreds of sites and require on-site execution.
Mint has learnt that the company has instead adopted non-WFH measures, including EV charging facilities at most offices, such as about 100 charging units at its new Innovation Tower in Powai, and a travel policy introduced in March 2026 that calls for reduced travel and greater use of video conferencing. Queries sent to L&T on Friday remain unanswered.
Ahead of Modi’s call to bring back Covid-era work-from-home policies, India's largest firms had been steadily rolling back remote work over the past three years amid productivity concerns, in line with global employers. These included Microsoft, Amazon and Tata Consultancy Servicves Ltd (TCS).
Many employees resisted returning to office, to avoid long commutes and maintain a work-life balance. This pushback forced companies to adopt a gradual return-to-office rollout, with greater emphasis on employee well-being.
Companies are allocating large sums to office space, signalling their commitment to in-person work. India’s leading real estate consultancy, CBRE South Asia Pvt Ltd, reported in January that office leasing activity reached a record high for the third consecutive year in 2025, at 82.6 million square feet—about a 1% year‑on‑year increase.
