Indian IT major Infosys has reportedly brought back over 200 of its employees and their families, who were stranded in the US amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown.The company brought these people back from San Francisco via a special chartered flight that landed in Bengaluru on Monday morning.?
"Infosys chartered flight took off from SFO (San Francisco) last night bringing hundreds of employees and families home to Bangalore," Infosys Associate Vice President - Retail, CPG and Logistics Samir Gosavi said in a LinkedIn post.
"We can confirm that Infosys arranged a flight to get some employees and their families back to India," a company spokesperson told IANS.According to reports 206 individuals, including Infosys employees and their family members, were brought back.?
These individuals were stranded in the US after international flights were suspended following the coronavirus outbreak and the resultant lockdown, a person said.
The employees were a mix of those working on client sites as well some who had travelled to the US for some meeting or event, another person said.'A couple of Infosys employees tweeted about the special flight.?
"Welcoming Infoscions and family! Returning on a special fight from the US after the lockdown," tweeted an employee on Monday.He said some teams had come together to make the special return flight possible.?
Similarly, another employee tweeted:?"Great effort to provide much needed relief to many Infoscions and their families to get home."?
Co-founder and Chairman Nandan Nilekani also tweeted on the occasion: "Infosys: compassionate capitalism at work!"?
The US is the biggest market for Indian IT services firms accounting for the biggest share of their revenues. For Infosys, North America accounted for over 60 per cent of its revenue for the quarter ended March 2020.?
While India is operating repatriation flights under the Vande Bharat Mission to several countries, many who have been stranded after they lost their jobs and savings are unable to come back.On Sunday announced that it will be conducting 36 flights between United States and India from 11 to 19 July, 2020 under Vande Bharat Mission.?
Last month, the US Department of Transportation had announced that it had barred Air India from operating chartered flights between India and the United States from July 22 without its prior approval, in an apparent retaliation for the Indian government not allowing American carriers to operate between the two countries.