CA's donation is perhaps the largest to date by any single American corporation to the Gujarat relief fund. It is in keeping with the company's philosophy of donating to charitable causes, an effort close to the company's Columbo-born CEO Sanjay Kumar. Described as the main architect of CA's growth to a $6 billion company, Kumar has been involved in the past supporting programs for education, arts and culture and children's causes.

CA recently joined forces on a "Breakfast for Charity Week," in which CA offices around the world donated $92,000 in forgone employee breakfast money to the "American Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program." The company also offers a "Matching Charitable Gifts Program" through which CA matches 200 percent of each employee donation to hospitals, community funds, educational and cultural institutions and social service and environmental organisations. Pointing to the scenic Hudson River overlooking the 50the floor of the CA office just across the landmark World Trade Center, Divgi said, "Let not nature's beauty and poise take away from its fury, the destruction that has been wrecked on Gujarat." The donation, Divgi said, was to be used to mostly aid widows and orphans. Citing statistics, he said at least a million people were rendered homeless and more than 60,000 survivors required immediate food, water, shelter and medical supplies. Considerable emergency assistance from CA, he said, was symbolic in theshape of a response to a crisis half a world away. "The survival of thousands of children in the earthquake-affected area will have been made possible in large part by the generosity and social responsibility of CA," he added.

Divgi said the donation was a "springboard" that would enable volunteer agencies to approach American corporations for quake relief. CRY, which is based in India, and has branches across the U.S., is a volunteer, nonprofit organisation that seeks to work on improving the quality of life for impoverished children in both countries. Sabir Bhatia, creator of Hotmail who sold it to Bill Gates' Microsoft, is one of the board members of Cry, Inc.

CRY volunteers said they had originally planned to raise about $500,000 for Gujarat relief. With the help of more than 300 active volunteers in the U.S., they could raise about $700,000 in just two weeks. CA's donation put the total funds raised by CRY at $1.2 million. Explaining the disbursal procedure, Divgi said the agency was looking at a "holistic approach" - where entire villages and families were to be targeted for long-term rehabilitation. CRY, he said, would try to work with Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) to help widows while its own programs and projects would target orphaned children. CRY volunteers said the agency had already sent $125,000 to its nodal offices in India for immediate relief work in the worst affected regions.