Companies Halt Work, Offer Unusual Help To Staff In India Covid Crisis

Feng Tay will suspend its Indian factories for 10 working days to keep its employees safe, the Nike-supplier told the Taiwan stock exchange Wednesday.

Some companies in India are temporarily halting business or offering unusual assistance to employees as a devastating wave of the coronavirus sickens and kills hundreds of thousands. Feng Tay will suspend its Indian factories for 10 working days to keep its employees safe, the Nike-supplier told the Taiwan stock exchange Wednesday. It follows firms including Honda Motor Co. and Suzuki Motor Corp. that have announced similar decisions in recent days. Developer Godrej Properties Ltd. extended a long weekend by three days to offer its employees time "to heal." The Lodha Group -- one of India's biggest property companies -- will pay 12 months salary to the family of any of its associates who dies of Covid while in the service of the firm. Borosil Ltd. will pay two years worth of pay and support the education of the deceased's children until they graduate. The management of several Indian companies had initially opposed lockdowns, which would hurt output and profits. However, the scale of the destruction and a severe shortage of vaccines forced a shift, when the Confederation of Indian Industry in early May urged authorities to curtail economic activity to save lives.