As load-shedding tightens its grip on the industries in the state, things appear more comfortable for those working in the Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing firms in Thane and Navi Mumbai. But, managements in these sectors have an admission: In the long run, the power cut will certainly hit profits, thanks to a sharp increase in costs.

IT and BPO giants like Tata Consultancy Services, Patni, Larsen and Toubro, Mastek have their offices in Thane and Navi Mumbai. These areas are facing atleast 40-hour load-shedding a week.

At the Millennium Park in Mahape, where 22 lakh sq ft area is earmarked for IT and related sectors houses about 200 IT firms, 11 BPOs and 4 KPOs. Over 15,000 people are employed in these firms. But, most of them have effective power back-ups.

“Clients won’t give them work unless they —IT companies and BPOs — have two back-ups. With no power, small IT units would either perish or move out of the state as they cannot afford to keep costly back-ups. Big IT giants can absorb losses and recover from it as they have management expertise,” said IT and management expert Dr Uday Nirgudkar. Nirgudkar was also the CEO of Lawkins, Thane’s first call centre with a work force of 2500 employees.

“We have proper electricity back-up so that our work goes on smoothly,” said a Larsen and Toubro official requesting anonymity. Larsen and Toubro group has its unit at Mahape in Navi Mumbai.

“The IT and the BPO companies have to be well-equipped to tackle the power crisis since their business largely depends on electricity. Big IT and BPO companies have a separate feeder from which they get electricity for 24 hours. They obviously pay more to avail this facility. But, the problem lies with the company who doesn’t have this facility, especially the small IT companies,” said K R Gopi, chairman of Small Scale Entrepreneurs Association-.

As many as 15-20 small IT companies are registered with the association. “Naturally, their profit reduces as these small companies cannot afford this on a daily basis. It requires capital investment.”

A 100-kilowatt generator costs around Rs 8 lakh and requires around 80 litre of diesel every day. Even this doesn’t become cost-effective especially for the small IT industries.

“We have back-ups ready and set up diesel generators and inverters for smooth functioning. But, this increases our production cost. We have to compromise this with our profits at the time when the market is in a bad shape,” said a senior official of an IT company which has its branch at Mahape in Navi Mumbai on condition of anonymity.