As the deadly second wave of the pandemic grips India, the health and well-being of our associates is our absolute top priority. Cognizant owes much of our success to our large presence in India, and we are committed to helping the country and its people overcome this humanitarian crisis.

On April 27, we launched Operation C3—Cognizant Combats COVID-19—to pull together all the resources available to us to support our associates in India, their dependents and their communities. These efforts will be focused on three primary areas: supporting COVID care facilities, supplementing oxygen supplies to address the acute shortage and providing access to vaccinations.

As time is critical, Cognizant is immediately providing $1.5 million (approximately INR 10 Crores) through the Cognizant Foundation to operationalize response efforts with our partners across India. We’re also providing an additional $2 million (approximately INR 15 Crores) in emergency funding to UNICEF in India to help address acute shortages in life-saving oxygen and to deploy medical and testing supplies.

As part of this initiative, we are helping establish and support COVID Care Facilities across India, including offering our own facilities to be operated as care facilities. We’re supporting the set-up of oxygen generation plants in hospitals to help them overcome oxygen shortages. And we’re working to facilitate special centers to make vaccination easier for people with disabilities.

In addition to the above, we have put in place multiple ways to help our India associates and dependents access care. We are providing access to vaccines for all of our associates and their dependents, medical support for COVID-19 positive associates and their immediate family members, paid leave for COVID care or recovery, and emergency financial support for junior staff in dire cases to help cover medical expenses.

Learn more about Cognizant's response to COVID-19 here.