NEW DELHI: Corporate India has stepped up funding to fight the spread of the coronavirus pandemic as the total case count continues to spiral in the country. ITC Limited joined the bandwagon on Friday, announcing the setting up of a ₹150 crore contingency fund that will be used to provide relief to the vulnerable and needy sections of society, provide assistance to rural healthcare and even provide protective gear for medical staff.
“…resources under this fund will be channelised towards the protection and well-being of the ground forces who are doing commendable work to reach medicines, groceries, other essential goods, sourcing of agri-commodities, and so on, for people across the country during the lockdown, by providing protective personal gear and hygiene products to such frontline warriors," the hotels to packaged food conglomerate said in a statement.
Earlier, the maker of Aashirvaad atta and Sunfeast biscuits said it is working with the state and local administration to ensure that manufacturing and distribution of essential food and hygiene products continue uninterrupted with a bare minimum workforce.
Biscuits major Parle Products said it will donate three crore packs of biscuits in the next three weeks, specially to the needy people through government agencies with the country going for a 21-day lockdown. The company said its manufacturing units are functioning with 50 per cent of the workforce in line with government advisories to curb an escalation of the coronavirus outbreak, but it is working to ensure that sufficient quantities of products are available in the market.
The Bajaj Group had also announced that it will contribute a fund of Rs 100 crore towards the fight against Covid-19. The Rs 100-crore fund will be utilised in supporting upgradation of key healthcare infrastructure required to tackle Covid-19 in Pune, which is the company's base, extending immediate support to the most affected -- daily wage workers, the homeless and street children -- and in rural care and livelihood aid, Bajaj Group head Rahul Bajaj said.
Other automakers such as Hero Cycles, TVS Motor Company and MG Motor have also pledged Rs 100 crore, Rs 30 crore and Rs 2 crore, respectively.
Earlier, private lender Axis Bank had announced Rs 100 crore support, said Amitabh Chaudhry, MD and CEO. Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma announced that the company is going to commit Rs 5 crore for development of medical solutions to fight Covid-19.
The youngest good samaritan on this list is Manu Kumar Jain, the Managing Director of Xiaomi India, who took to Twitter to announce the company is donating lakhs of N95 masks to government hospitals and state police in Karnataka, Punjab and Delhi. Xiaomi India is also donating hazmat suits for doctors at AIIMS.
Anupama Nadella, wife of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, has also donated Rs 2 crore to the Telangana Chief Minister’s Welfare Fund to help poor people during the lockdown.
In the Information and Technology (IT) sector, Cognizant Technology Solutions has announced an additional payment of 25 per cent of the base pay for April for employees up to the associate level in India. This applies to 1.3 lakh employees of the IT firm’s India workforce. After the payout is made in the April salary, the company said it would continue to review the subsequent months as the situation required.
The Tata Group has assured all group companies that full payment will be made to temporary workers and daily wage earners for the months of March and April, while Reliance Industries (RIL) said it will raise its capacities to produce 1 lakh face masks a day and a large number of personal protective equipment such as suits and garments for health workers to equip them further to fight the coronavirus challenge.
Drawing strength from its presence in varied sectors, the oil-to-telecom conglomerate said it is also looking to ensure that all its subsidiaries pull out all the stops to support the government in its efforts to contain the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
RIL will provide free fuel for all emergency service vehicles, free meals in various cities, double data on all plans for existing JioFiber users, ensure sufficient supply of essentials through Reliance Retail stores and continue to pay its temporary and contract workers in a bid to mitigate any overwhelming financial burden.
On the other hand, Anand Mahindra has offered resorts owned by his company as temporary care facilities. The billionaire also offered 100 per cent of his salary to the fund and engineers at Mahindra Group are also working on manufacturing prototypes of ventilators as India faces a shortage of the lifesaving medical device. It is expected to cost less than Rs 7,500.
Chairman of Vedanta Resources Ltd Anil Agarwal also pledged to commit Rs 100 crore for the fight against the novel coronavirus that has infected over 5,49,481 people and killed almost 25,000 people globally.