Companies observe International Yoga Day

Top officials and employees of state-owned companies such as SBI and NMDC on Sunday participated in the first International Yoga Day.

"State Bank of India (SBI) today celebrated International Yoga Day across the country," country's largest lender said in a statement.

The main function was held at the Bank's corporate centre in Mumbai where SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya, performed yoga along with top management of the Bank, its employees and their family members, the statement said. Bhattacharya said: "Yoga spreads the message of peace and is very beneficial to health. Yoga helps us refocus our attention in a stressful life. People need to have good health to enjoy life as nothing else is as important as health.

"Despite stress and pressures in life, you need to take out time to pro-actively stay healthy." SBI has a large number of complexes with visiting yoga instructors to guide employees in performing exercises the right way, it said.

NMDC celebrated the First International Day of Yoga by organising a yoga camp/demonstration for its employees and their family members at its head office in Hyderabad today, the miner said in a statement.

NMDC CMD Narendra Kothari and senior officials and employees of the PSU were among others who participated enthusiastically with their family members, it said.

To ensure that employees practise yoga on a regular basis, NMDC arranged distribution of yoga mat to all the participants. The programme was facilitated by trained yoga instructors, it said.