Google's Sundar Pichai Joins Steering Committee of COVID-19 Task Force

Three Indian-American CEOs Sundar Pichai from Google, Punit Renjen from Deloitte, and Shantanu Narayen from Adobe have joined the steering committee of the Global Task Force on Pandemic Response, which is overseeing an unprecedented corporate sector initiative to help India successfully fight COVID19.

The names of the three Indian-American CEOs were added to the list of the steering committee on Thursday.

The three CEOs have been active in organising US companies' response to the COVID-19 crisis in India.

Others who were added to the list on Thursday are Mark Suzman, CEO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Joshua Bolten, President and CEO, Business Roundtable; and Suzanne Clark, President and CEO, US Chamber of Commerce.

The task force is a newly formed public-private partnership organised by the US Chamber of Commerce and supported by Business Roundtable. It is working with the Chamber's US-India Business Council and the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum to take immediate actions to help address the COVID-19 surge in India.

The US corporate sector so far has committed more than 25,000 oxygen concentrators for India. The first 1,000 oxygen concentrators, provided by Deloitte, arrived in India on April 25, with critical logistical support from FedEx.

These concentrators will be shipped to designated healthcare facilities for immediate use, the task force said.

The first shipment of ventilators landed in India early this week. All 1,000 ventilators are expected to reach India by June 3.

Medtronic will provide end-to-end support for the initiative.

As many as 16 businesses have joined the task force's ventilator initiative.

Together these businesses will provide over $30 million (roughly Rs. 220 crores) in support for India's healthcare response – joining the dozens of businesses which have pledged their support in efforts to provide oxygen concentrators, develop information and best practices to support employees in India and more, the task force said.

According to the task force, while the country has been reporting over 4,00,000 cases daily, the actual case rate in India is estimated to be much higher.

Experts forecast the crisis will only worsen, with India's peak not expected until mid-May, it said.

Other members of the steering committee include Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture; Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon; Tim Cook, CEO of Apple; Brian Moynihan, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Bank of America; Raj Subramaniam, president FedEx; and Arvind Krishna, Chairman and CEO, IBM.

Gail McGovern, president and CEO, American Red Cross; Mike Parra, CEO Americas, DHL Express; Jim Fitterling, Chairman and CEO, Dow; Alex Gorsky, chairman of the Board and CEO, Johnson & Johnson; Michael Miebach, CEO, Mastercard; Geoff Martha, chairman and CEO, Medtronic; Brad Smith, president, Microsoft; Ramon Laguarta, Chairman of the Board and CEO, PepsiCo; Carol Tomé, CEO, UPS; Sanjay Poonen, COO, VMware; and Judith McKenna, President and CEO, Walmart International are also members of the task force.

Till date, over 45 US businesses and associations have contributed to the Global Task Force's activities.

While the task force is focusing initial efforts on the pressing need in India, additional working groups will be formed to address COVID-19 surges in other countries.

Through its steering committee, the task force will work to concentrate efforts where corporate support will be most beneficial, it said.

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