TCS, Infy, Wipro recalling Indian staff from Japan

As Japan makes frantic efforts to deal with the nuclear radiation leaks from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the aftermath of earthquake and tsunami, Indian information technology firms have begun relocating the families of their Indian employees in the country.

Firms including Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Mahindra Satyam and L&T Infotech also have  given the employees the option to return home, if the situation so warrants.

Infosys Technologies, India's second largest IT services company, which has around 500 employees in Japan, has asked them to send their families back home.

"We have about 350 Indian software professionals at our development centre in Tokyo. We have advised them to send their families to India, and given them a choice to return or stay back, depending on the situation," said Kris Gopalakrishnan, CEO & MD.

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Mid-sized IT services firm MindTree has already initiated the process for evacuation. The company has set up a "war room" to monitor the situation.

"We have been evacuating families of MindTree minds (employees) since yesterday and the MindTree minds have been asked to return to India today," said Krishnakumar Natarajan, CEO and MD.

TCS, which has 100 Indian employees in Tokyo, said it was ready to relocate them. The company is moving its local Japanese employees and their family members to safer locations.

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"Safety is our top priority. We are ready to relocate our employees and their families to India. We are in touch with our team in Japan," said a TCS spokesperson.

Mahindra Satyam which has about 100 employees in located in Tokyo, said the company has not initiated evacuation process, even though it has given a choice to employees either to return to India or work from their homes or hotels close to customers' locations.

"Some of our employees have already returned. We are in constant touch with the Indian High Commissioner and the Japanese government," said a spokesperson.

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Wipro has 400 employees, including 100 Indian software professionals in Tokyo and Yokohama. It has given an option to the families of the Indian employees to return and would help them in facilitating this.

"All our employees are safe and continue to work with our clients. We are giving employees options like working from home and are also gearing up our offshore support to ensure business continuity to our clients in this hour of need," said Saurabh Govil, senior vice president, human resources.

PTI adds: Japan is facing a radiation scare with some explosions across various reactors being reported, following a massive earthquake and a subsequent tsunami on March 11.

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The tsunami left thousands of people dead or unaccounted for, as houses were it swept away, ships overturned and several buildings, including a petrochemical plant, catching fire.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has warned that the radiation had spread from the crippled reactors and there was "a very high risk of further leakage".

He asked an estimated 140,000 people living within 30 km of the facility north of capital to remain indoors and to conserve power as threat loomed large of Japan's crisis turning into a Chernobyl-like disaster.