Korean firms in India on alert over deepening COVID-19 crisis

By Baek Byung-yeul

Korean companies operating in India said Sunday that they were minimizing their number of employees on site and monitoring developments there as the number of COVID-19 cases in the country spirals out of control.

According to the Indian government, the number of daily COVID-19 infections cases remained at over 400,000, Sunday, despite several states imposing strict lockdown measures.

Over 700 Korean firms operate in India and most of them have taken measures to have staff work from home while repatriating their family members. Some have reduced production as they run manufacturing facilities in compliance with quarantine rules imposed by local governments.

New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and other major Indian cities where local branches of Korean companies are located have been implementing full lockdown measures, including suspending the operation of local government offices except for essential services.

Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has pledged to ensure the safe return of Korean nationals from India, and on Sunday a plane carrying 164 Korean citizens arrived at Incheon International Airport from New Delhi.

It was the third special flight sent by the government, following two previous ones ― one to Chennai that returned 172 Koreans and the second to Bangalore that repatriated 203 people. Most of the passengers on the third flight were employees of Samsung Display who were working on the construction of a new plant. An additional 12 flights are scheduled to transport Korean citizens out of India this month.

To help India fight the spread of COVID-19, Samsung Electronics recently announced it will donate $5 million to the central and state governments.

The company, which operates a smartphone manufacturing facility in Noida and a home appliance factory in Chennai, has told its employees there to work from home, and is paying the airfares of the family members of its Korean employees to return home on the special flights.

“We are currently operating our production facilities in compliance with the quarantine policies of the local Indian governments. We are also covering the cost of airplane tickets for family members of our employees to help them return to Korea,” an official said.

Samsung said it will donate $3 million to the central government of India as well as the states of Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu; and $2 million worth of medical supplies, including 100 oxygen generators, 3,000 oxygen cylinders and 1 million low dead space syringes. Additionally, the firm will cover any vaccination fees for its 50,000 employees.

LG Electronics operates production facilities in India, and has also reduced production due to soaring virus cases.

“Due to the recent spread of COVID-19 in India, we are operating our plants in Noida and Pune by reducing planned production, while complying with the quarantine policies of the state governments,” an LG official said, adding that the company was paying close attention to quarantine measures there.

Hyundai Motor, Kia and POSCO are also letting their employees work from home. Hyundai and Kia have suspended weekend work, while maintaining weekday production schedules.

Hyundai Motor India Foundation, Hyundai's corporate social responsibility arm, also announced it will set up oxygen-generating facilities to help various hospitals in the Indian states of Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana, Telangana and Tamil Nadu as there has been a massive shortage of medical oxygen.