Work from Home (WFH) has become more popular after the Covid-19 Pandemic. Many companies has allowed their employees to do WFH .The Commerce Ministry has announced  new rules for WFH. As according to the Ministry they have notified a new rule 43A for WFH in Special Economic Zones(SEZ) 2006. 

The main purpose of issuing new notification was to make a Uniform Wfh Policy across all Special Economic Zones in India.It was a demand from Industry to make uniform WFH policy, The new rule provides the basic guidelines for WFH for certain category of employees of a unit in Special Economic Zones.

WFH is allowed for a maximum period of One Year in a Special Economic Zone Unit and it can be further extended for one year at a time by the Development Commissioner (DC) on the request of units. WFH may be extended to a maximum of 50% of total employees which includes contractual employees. 

Various categories of employees include IT/ITES SEZ units , Employees who are temporarily immobilized and employees who are traveling and working offsite. In respect to SEZ units and whose employees are already working from Home, the new notification will allow them a transition period of 90 days for seeking approval

SEZ units will provide necessary infrastructure equipment and secured internet connectivity for WFH to perform authorized operations of the specific units. The permission to take out the equipment is proximate along with the permission granted to the employee. There is flexibility granted to the Development Commissioner of Special Economic Zones to approve higher number of employees i.e more than 50 percent for any specific bonafide reason that need to be recorded in writing.