Twitter's two India offices vacant as social media firm cuts costs

Twitter’s office in Delhi has been shut since December and the one in Mumbai is vacant, amid reports that the social media giant has told its staff to work from home to save costs.

A correspondent from Business Standard visited the building, which housed Twitter’s Delhi office in south Delhi’s Mehrauli. Sources at the venue confirmed that the office has been shut since December. A nameplate saying 'Twitter Communications' is still displayed at the reception of The Executive Centre, Crescent Building.

“There were hardly a few people, and since December, it has not been used. No one has stepped in from the building since the past few months,” said a building official who didn’t want to be named.

“As far as I know, the company has discontinued (the office space) since December. They were working remotely since the pandemic, but we haven’t had any contact with them for a few months now,” said another person from the staff of the building that offers co-working spaces.

Sources said that no one has reported at Twitter’s office at the WeWork facility in the Bombay-Kurla Complex (BKC). Twitter had space for over 100 people in the facility.

An email sent to Twitter remained unanswered.

With the closure of the offices, the social media firm has minimised its presence to Bengaluru’s Dickenson Road office, as per the requirement of IT Rules. Sources at Twitter India said “The office is still operational on the address, as published on the website.”

Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 require social media companies with more than five million users to have a physical address in India. Sub-clause five of rule four says: "The significant social media intermediary shall have a physical contact address in India published on its website, mobile based application or both, as the case may be, for the purposes of receiving the communication addressed to it."

Twitter fired more than 90 per cent of its roughly 200-plus staff in India late last year, as its billionaire leader Elon Musk cuts costs. Bloomberg has reported that the company in January asked its employees in Singapore to vacate the premises the same day and work from home.