Wipro charters flights to bring back hundreds of staff, kin from US

After Infosys and Tech Mahindra, IT major Wipro has chartered special flights to bring home hundreds of its staff and their families from the US.

The company is undertaking similar steps for its employees in the UK and Australia.

"At Wipro, the paramount concern is the safety, health and well-being of our employees. Earlier this week, Wipro chartered flights to bring back hundreds of employees and their families from the US," Wipro said in response to a query.

The company added that employees were also brought home from the UK via the Vande Bharat Mission flight.

"These included employees whose visas have either expired or are close to expiry. Plans are afoot to organise charter flights from Australia later this month," the company said.

Earlier this month, Infosys executive Sanjeev Bode had written a LinkedIn post saying hundreds of Infosys employees and their families were brought back to India via a chartered flight. According to sources, 206 people were brought back on that flight.

The US is the biggest market for Indian IT services firms, accounting for the biggest share of their revenues. For Wipro, Americas region accounted for over 59 per cent of its revenue for the quarter ended June 2020.

Many individuals were stranded in the US after international flights were suspended following the coronavirus virus outbreak and the resultant lockdown.

Tech Mahindra has also facilitated return of over 210 of its employees and their dependents stranded in the US due to COVID-19 induced lockdown.