CSR Funds to Fight Coronavirus in India

In a week, India has seen a huge rise in the number of people affected by Coronavirus. A developing country like India which is still building its health infrastructure is way behind the developed countries of the western world and autocratic nations like China.

Billionaires and corporations all over the world are making huge donations to fight this pandemic which has converted a few countries into prisons. India, which is known for its philanthropic industrialists is not behind.

Finance Minister of India, Ms Nirmala Sitharaman clarified in a statement about spending CSR funds for COVID-19.

In view of the spread of novel #CoronaVirus in India, its declaration as pandemic by the WHO, and decision of Government of India to treat this as notified disaster, it is hereby clarified that spending of CSR funds for COVID-19 is eligible CSR activity. #IndiaFightCorona pic.twitter.com/XQneNBaJe8

— NSitharamanOffice (@nsitharamanoffc) March 23, 2020

The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) on Sunday said donations to the Prime Minister’s emergency fund set up to fight the Covid-19 pandemic will qualify as corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending that companies are mandated to make.

Finance and corporate affairs minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted that donations from CSR funds can now be made to the Prime Minister’s “Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations” (PM CARES) fund. The minister also tweeted an MCA notification, which said the fund was set up primarily to deal with any emergency or distress situation such as the one posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. “It is clarified that any contribution made to the PM CARES fund shall qualify as CSR expenditure under the Companies Act 2013,” it said.

Mr Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group, faced severe backlash from Left-Wing trolls when he shared on Twitter that he will support PM Narendra Modi’s clarion call of appreciating people who are risking their lives in providing essential services. He was also one of the first to announce that he will donate his entire salary to fight this Wuhan virus pandemic. He also announced other measures in which the Mahindra Group will help the nation fight this epidemic.

—Our Projects team stands ready to assist the Govt/Army in erecting temporary care facilities. —The Mahindra Foundation will create a fund to assist the hardest hit in our value chain (small businesses & the self employed) (4/5)

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) March 22, 2020

Vedanta Group Chairman, Mr. Anil Aggarwal, announced a fund of Rs. 100 crore to fight Coronavirus. Vijay Shekhar Sharma of PayTM has contributed Rs. 5 crore towards development of drugs to fight Coronavirus.

I am committing 100 cr towards fighting the Pandemic. #DeshKiZarooratonKeLiye is a pledge that we undertook & this is the time when our country needs us the most. Many people are facing uncertainty & I’m specially concerned about the daily wage earners, we will do our bit to help pic.twitter.com/EkxOhTrBpR

— Anil Agarwal (@AnilAgarwal_Ved) March 22, 2020

Standard Chartered has announced that it will commit USD1 billion of financing for companies that provide goods and services to help the fight against Covid-19, and those planning the switch into making products that are in high demand to fight the global pandemic. Companies in scope include all those associated with helping to tackle Covid-19, including manufacturers and distributors in the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare providers, as well as non-medical companies that have volunteered to add this capability to their manufacturing output – goods in scope include ventilators, face masks, protective equipment, sanitisers and other consumables.

Manish Mundra, the producer of acclaimed and offbeat movies such as Ankhon Dekhi, Masaan, Newton and Dhanak, earned the respect of millions by donating a huge amount to people affected by Delhi riots. He did not stay behind even here and was one of the first few individuals to announce a personal contribution in fighting coronavirus. He pledged an amount of Rs. 3 Crore to procure 70 ventilators and provide them to the cities of Bangalore/Cochin/ Jaipur/ Mumbai/ Jodhpur/ Deoghar.

DCB Bank has made an announcement committing to spend INR 1 crore for intervention and measures to manage the outbreak of COVID-19 in India. The Bank will engage with various agencies and partners to manage the response to COVID-19 in India.   It aims to deploy this fund within the next 3 months.

ITC’s Savlon has partnered with the state Government of Kerala on its recently announced mass handwashing campaign ‘Break The Chain’. The brand has undertaken the responsibility of supplying Handwashes, free of charge, to ensure ready availability at all the booths set up by the government in public spaces to curb the spread and help take preventive care.

In addition to this, ITC Savlon has also been consistently working towards increasing awareness on the necessary precautionary and preventive measures. For this, it has set up an expert panel headed by a leading medical practitioner to answer questions on the subject. So far more than 150 questions in multiple languages have been directly addressed on social media through its Ask the Expert campaign.

State Bank of India has announced to commit 0.25% of its annual profit (FY 2019-20) to fight the outbreak. The bank will use this fund mainly to support health care for underprivileged people in cooperation with health care professionals and industry. Some of the initiatives will centre around the promotion of healthcare, including preventive health care and sanitation and disaster management.

Rajnish Kumar, Chairman, SBI said “This is a time for the nation to be united. We at SBI will continue our support towards the people and communities of India amidst this critical period in the best possible way. I also urge all the responsible corporate citizens to come forward and not only take all precautionary preventive measures for the entire staff, their families and people around but also contribute generously to support fellow countrymen who need financial help in these unprecedented difficult times.”

Kaka-Ba hospital, the CSR wing of Cadila Pharmaceuticals, in association with Gujarat Police distributed masks and sanitizer bottles to the police team in the vicinity of Dholka in the wake of the outbreak. Since gathering of people is not advisable in the current scenario, along with the masks, an awareness video talking about the virus, how it spreads and the importance of handwashing was sent to the staff through WhatsApp. While self-quarantine is not possible for the police staff, they were informed about the importance of social distancing and what all steps they can take to protect themselves through infographic pamphlets.

Henkel has announced a comprehensive global solidarity program to support employees, customers and communities facing the global COVID-19 pandemic. It has made a commitment to make a donation to WHO/UN Foundation fund and other organizations. An amount of 2 million euros will be donated to different funds and organizations to help fight the pandemic. The Fritz Henkel Foundation will donate 1 million euros directly to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN) Foundation. This donation will help to provide protective equipment for frontline health workers, equip diagnostic laboratories, improve data collection and analysis, establish and maintain intensive care units as well as to accelerate research and development of potential vaccines and therapeutics. Another 1 million euros will be distributed by the Fritz Henkel Foundation globally to different organizations and partners as well as to support the personal commitment and voluntary engagement of employees fighting the crisis. The organisation will also make a Donation of also donate 5 million units of personal and household hygiene products globally. This includes hand sanitizers, soaps and protective equipment as well as detergents, disinfectants and other household cleaning products. Henkel’s corporate citizenship team will implement these donations in close coordination with charity organizations, local authorities and partners around the world.

MG Motor India announced a donation of Rs. 2 crores for the government hospitals and health institutions providing medical assistance in Gurugram and Halol (Vadodara), where the carmaker’s facilities are located – to ensure the health and well-being of the medical staff and underprivileged sections of society. While INR 1 crore contribution will come from the company directly, its employees have also pledged to donate another INR 1 crore. The contribution includes gloves, masks, ventilators, medicines and beds etc. depending on the particular requirement of the specific government hospitals and health institutions providing medical assistance in Gurugram and Halol (Vadodra).

LG Electronics has announced several initiatives to help the community. Due to the nation lockdown, there are a huge number of migrant labourers and daily wage workers who are struggling each day and yearning for essentials to survive. LG, in partnership with Akshaya Patra Foundation, has taken up a responsibility to serve meals to these people across India. The company will be sponsoring over 1 million meals. In addition to this and with an aim to provide basic amenities to the doctors and patients, it is also donating products to the hospitals allotted for quarantine/ isolation wards. The brand will cover 50 state & district hospitals to further enhance the set-up by providing Water Purifier, Air conditioners, Refrigerator & TV.

Bharti Enterprises and its companies Bharti Airtel, Bharti Infratel and others are contributing a sum of over Rs 100 crore for India’s fight against COVID-19. A significant portion of the corpus will be immediately contributed to the PM – CARES Fund. The balance amount is being directed towards sourcing of masks, PPE and other key equipment for the doctors, healthcare workers and essential services personnel who are at the forefront of this massive battle. Over a million N-95 masks are being procured and will be made available on an immediate basis.

Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic and CSR arm of Infosys, today announced that it is committing INR 100 crore to support efforts towards fighting COVID-19 in India. The Foundation contributed half of this commitment (INR 50 crore) to the PM CARES Fund. This sum will primarily be utilized across three broad areas of support that the Foundation has prioritized. First is to expand hospital capacity for treatment and enable hospital stays for COVID-19 patients across India, especially ones belonging to the economically weaker sections of the society. Second to provide ventilators, testing kits, and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like masks, and other protective gear for frontline healthcare workers. And lastly, to ensure better access to food and nutrition for the underprivileged section of the society, that is bearing the adverse economic impact of the current situation.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor has announced Dealer Support Package – ‘COVID Package’ for its associates in order to support and protect their interests. This unique package will provide necessary assistance to the dealer partners to overcome the lockdown phase, ensuring their safety and wellbeing during these uncertainties.

The dealer support package called the “COVID Package” was designed after careful evaluation of individual dealerships’ customized internal processes and fixed cost thus allowing them optimum utilization of the benefits. The primary objective of the package is to ensure liquidity to well sustain the business during the lockdown thus protecting dealer partners for approximately 38 to 75 days based on individual dealer overheads by giving cash flow support that will help them sail through these perilous times. The COVID package ranges from an immediate settlement of any dealer claims to inventory interest subsidy for vehicles in dealer stock and spare parts payment deferment amongst a host of other supports. Besides, TKM is working with its finance partners for a one-time reduction of inventory funding interest at this unprecedented situation.

DLF Foundation is serving cooked meals to more than 10,000 migrant labourers in Noida. For this purpose, it has roped in Akshay Patra for delivery of hot cooked meals and their kitchen is providing meals for migrant labour. On Monday, Food was served at Baraat Ghar located at Goyal Colony, Salarpur Khadar, Sector 110, Noida. DLF Foundation along Akshay Patra is ensuring that the food is cooked and served in the most hygienic manner.

Financial services conglomerate, IIFL Group today said that it is making a contribution of INR 5 crores to the PM Cares Fund instituted by the Government of India. Nirmal Jain, Founder, IIFL Group said that besides the contribution, the company is also engaging its 18000 employees as well to mobilise more support for this cause. He promised to continue supporting the efforts of the government in fighting coronavirus outbreak.

Godrej Group has earmarked a fund of 50 crore rupees for community support and relief initiatives in India, as an initial outlay. The fund will back some of the following initiatives underway focused on public health and essential supplies, as well as additional efforts in the months ahead.

They have donated 5 crore rupees to the BMC, 115 hospital beds to Maharashtra government hospitals, helped set up a 75-bed quarantine center at the Seven Hills hospital in Andheri (Mumbai). They have launched the #ProtektIndiaMovement, a nationwide multimedia and multi-channel campaign to promote mass awareness around handwashing and public health. As part of this, they have:
– Supported the free distribution of 1 million packets of Godrej Protekt Mr. Magic powder-to-liquid hand wash in Maharashtra through partnership with the BMC and Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC)
– Partnered with communities linked to our CSR programmes to support 1.12 lakh beneficiaries across 8 states with hand wash, sanitisers and soap
– Donated sanitisers to the Mumbai police force
– Begun ramping up capacity to meet the demand for soap, hand wash and sanitisers.