Company will undertake relief and rehabilitation activities.
By Sreekanth A Nair
The US-based multinational IT firm, Cognizant, has committed $40 million to help residents, its employees and business partners in flood-hit Chennai. The company will undertake relief and rehabilitation activities in the city.
Cognizant, one of Chennai’s largest employers with more than 60,000 employees and 11 facilities, will take a multi-pronged approach to support relief and longer-term rehabilitation measures in the city.
A total of $10 million of funding is targeted to help the residents of Chennai through direct grants to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund, direct grants to NGOs, including AmeriCares India, and other charitable and relief organizations providing healthcare, housing and other support in the city. Also, funds will be disbursed to direct health initiatives and other community programs to help prevent the spread of disease and assist in the rebuilding of communities within Chennai.
In addition, Cognizant has committed $30 million to assist with the immediate and longer-term recovery needs of its employees and business partners.
This will be done through direct grants and loans to employees, as well as other individuals who support Cognizant’s Chennai operations and dedicated healthcare teams to provide medical care, consultation and disease prevention to employees and business partners.
Gordon Coburn, Cognizant president said, “Chennai is home to tens of thousands of our employees and their families. We are committed to helping with the large challenge of rebuilding the city and addressing the health, safety and housing needs of the residents of Chennai.”
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the support of our employees, clients and business partners and are working with them to direct their support to impactful relief causes. We encourage the larger Chennai business ecosystem to join us in the effort to quickly recover from this disaster,” he added.