31% dip in use of city’s office spaces since COVID pandemic

Mobility data from Aug 9-Sept 20 this year shows 9% decline in usage of public transport

Although life has returned to near-normalcy in Hyderabad since the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, 31% people are still not back at workplaces and the number of people frequenting retail and recreation spaces is still down by 22%, personal mobility data has shown.

The anonymised data trends are mapped by Google and correspond to the day of the week, during the six-week period (January 3 to February 6, 2020) before the onset of the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown. Both IT giants Google and Apple have been releasing mobility data since the outbreak of the pandemic, showing the disruption in normal lifestyle.

Telangana government officials have made repeated pleas to IT companies to resume work from office. The work-from-home (WFH) ecosystem is having its economic cost as human resources and ancillary industries dependent on employees have been affected. Retail, real-estate, transport and other sectors have been hit due to the WFH routine adopted by IT companies. Hyderabad has an estimated 6.3 lakh IT workers and more than 90% of them are operating in WHF mode.