What PM Modi's WFH appeal means for India Inc's return-to-office push
New Delhi, May 11, 2026
As India faces rising geopolitical and oil market uncertainty, could PM Modi's work-from-home message force India Inc to rethink its return-to-office push?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appealed for austerity measures, including restrained fuel consumption and the revival of practices such as work-from-home (WFH), in a bid to conserve India’s foreign exchange amid the ongoing West Asia crisis. This has reignited a debate on whether companies are prepared for flexible work mode again.
For the past two years, India Inc has steadily pushed employees back to office campuses after the pandemic-era remote work arrangements. Companies across sectors have argued that physical offices are essential for productivity, making attendance mandates stricter.
However, after PM Modi's remarks, WFH, which companies were increasingly treating as an employee flexibility issue, is now being linked to fuel conservation.
Why Modi’s message changes the WFH debate
The government data says India imports over 85 per cent of its crude oil requirements, making the economy highly vulnerable to disruptions in global energy markets. Higher oil prices affect inflation, transport costs, logistics expenses and corporate operating margins.
For corporates, this changes the debate from what employees want to what the economy may require during periods of stress.
“After years of return-to-office mandates, most organisations are still operationally prepared to scale remote work if required because the digital infrastructure and workflow systems built during the pandemic continue to remain in place,” Balasubramanian A, senior vice-president at TeamLease Services, told Business Standard.
However, companies are unlikely to return to blanket work-from-home models. “Preparedness today is less about adopting remote work as a cultural shift and more about using it as a strategic continuity lever during periods of disruption or uncertainty,” he said.
Why companies want employees back in office
Many firms have argued that prolonged remote work weakened workplace culture and affected collaboration and innovation. Amazon, for instance, asked employees globally to return to office more frequently and framed physical presence as critical for collaboration and innovation. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has repeatedly argued that in-person collaboration improves decision-making and mentorship. Indian IT firms such as TCS linked variable pay to office attendance, while Infosys allowed flexibility with a strong push for physical attendance for collaboration and client engagement.
A 2024 report by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), University of Delhi, found that 68 per cent of surveyed companies continued remote or hybrid work practices even after the pandemic. The surveyed companies also noted that remote work weakened communication, teamwork and organisational culture.
Shrikumaravelu Santanakisna, managing partner at Tekmak Industrials and member of CII-Coimbatore zone, said companies still see clear advantages in physical workplaces. “At the end of the day, we are a society that enjoys spending time together and draws energy from each other when we work together in the same workspace. Decisions are faster and efficiency is higher when we are at the office,” he told Business Standard.
He added that while some employees adapted well to work-from-home, the model does not work equally well for all.
Ishita Chanana, senior vice-president and head-HR at Masai, a Bengaluru-based edtech platform, told Business Standard, “Working from the office is becoming less of an operational necessity and more of a fundamental human need.”
According to Chanana, remote collaboration technologies were originally designed to bridge geographical distances rather than fully replace collective workplace engagement.
However, according to Pratik Vaidya, Managing Director and Chief Vision Officer, Karma Management Global Consulting Solutions, India Inc is struggling because it is trying to solve a 2026 workplace issue with a pre Covid mindset. "The office is important, but the office cannot be the only measure of productivity," he said to Business Standard.
Why employees are resisting full return-to-office
In metro cities, employees often spend several hours travelling daily. Rising fuel costs, traffic congestion and longer travel times have intensified frustration around mandatory office attendance. Even as companies tightened office mandates, employee demand for flexibility never fully disappeared. The CII-FMS report found strong agreement among respondents that remote work reduced commuting time, cost, fatigue, fuel use and stress.
Research by Microsoft’s Work Trend Index also found that for a large section of employees, especially working parents and caregivers, remote work improved quality of life and reduced logistical burdens.
“India Inc is still finding it difficult to completely end work-from-home because employee expectations, talent competitiveness and business realities have evolved significantly over the last few years,” Balasubramanian said. “Companies are balancing multiple factors such as employee retention, commuting fatigue, infrastructure costs and business continuity preparedness, which makes a full return-to-office strategy harder to implement uniformly."
According to him, most organisations are now moving towards structured hybrid systems rather than viewing work-from-home either as a temporary exception or a permanent entitlement.
Could India Inc soften its return-to-office stance?
While experts say India Inc is unlikely to return to pandemic-style remote work, companies may adopt a more flexible stance during periods of economic or geopolitical stress.
“Most firms are unlikely to resist calibrated hybrid flexibility if it is positioned around business continuity, efficiency, economic resilience and national interest rather than purely employee convenience,” Balasubramanian said.
“Over the last two years, organisations have invested heavily in return-to-office strategies to strengthen collaboration, culture and managerial oversight, so a complete reversal is unlikely,” he said.
However, he added that framing flexible work as part of fuel conservation and continuity planning could make companies more open to selective hybrid models again, especially for outcome-driven roles.
Chanana said companies may become more open to calibrated hybrid flexibility if it is framed around resilience and workforce sustainability rather than convenience alone.
“This shift reflects a growing recognition that prolonged isolation and continuous indoor work can carry meaningful consequences for both mental and physical well-being,” she said.
According to experts, possible immediate changes may include:
• optional WFH days during fuel spikes
• reduced non-essential travel
• online-first internal meetings
• staggered office attendance
• contingency hybrid systems
Companies may also begin reframing hybrid work as part of business continuity and resilience planning rather than simply an employee benefit.
“Flexible work can meaningfully reduce urban fuel consumption, especially in large metro cities where daily commuting volumes are extremely high,” Balasubramanian said. “Even partial hybrid adoption across productivity-linked roles can lower peak-hour traffic congestion, reduce travel frequency and ease pressure on fuel demand over time."
Chanana also said hybrid work models could significantly reduce commuting pressure in large urban centres if implemented thoughtfully. However, she cautioned that reduced office commuting may not always translate into lower mobility overall.
Who gains and who loses in the WFH-RTO battle
If work-from-home is formally encouraged again, experts believe the impact will vary sharply across sectors and worker categories.
For employees in digital and productivity-linked roles, hybrid systems could reduce commuting expenses, travel time, and workplace stress. Companies could also benefit from lower travel costs, operational flexibility, and continuity during disruptions.
However, sectors dependent on physical presence and in-person coordination may continue to face limitations.
“I am from a manufacturing industry, so the majority of our employees have to work in person,” Santanakisna said.
He added that while hybrid work may function effectively for some knowledge-based roles, efficiency monitoring and collaboration remain concerns for many businesses.
“If KPIs and deliverables are clearly defined, employees can work from anywhere and efficiency can still be monitored. But for many organisations, the comfort of working from home itself becomes a challenge,” he said.
Balasubramanian also noted that early-career employees could lose some degree of workplace learning and mentorship opportunities under prolonged remote arrangements.
At the same time, experts said commercial real estate, transport networks, restaurants, and service businesses around office districts benefit from stronger office attendance, creating wider economic implications for the work-from-home debate.
The Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated that large parts of the economy can continue functioning remotely under extraordinary conditions. According to experts, hybrid systems may increasingly be used as contingency tools during crisis situations such as fuel shocks, pollution, extreme weather events, or transport disruptions, but may not be considered permanent replacements for physical offices.
"Covid proved that a large part of services, technology, consulting, finance, compliance, HR and back office work can continue remotely. But it also proved that remote work cannot be a blanket answer. Manufacturing, retail, logistics, healthcare, branches, field teams and shop floor supervision still need physical presence," said Vaidya.
[The Business Standard]
