CSR News: ICICI Lombard gifts cycles and helmets to dabbawalas for Diwali

Often described as the ‘Lifeline of Mumbai’, these men clad in white with Gandhi caps, have been ensuring that over 2.6 lakh people in Mumbai get to eat their afternoon meals on time, irrespective of hot summer, winter or even heavy rains. The dabbawalas have been transporting lunchboxes from home to offices and back.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown their lives in disarray. As they attempt to get back to work, many of them are facing the challenge of their cycles having become non-useable or needing significant repair, due to non-usage for so many months.

ICICI Lombard, private sector non-life insurance company, has come forward to support the Mumbai Dabbawalas by providing hundreds of them with new cycles and helmets. Further, it is getting the other cycles repaired as part of the CSR initiative. In line with its focus on road safety, the company has also distributed helmets to these dabbawalas to ensure they are safe when riding the cycle on the streets of Mumbai.

This endeavour is in sync with the brand’s focus on helping its diverse set of stakeholders restart their life, under the aegis of its #RestartRight campaign, introduced amid the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sanjeev Mantri, Executive Director, ICICI Lombard said, “At ICICI Lombard, it is our continuous endeavour to support our diverse set of stakeholders in their moment of need, in line with our brand ethos of Nibhaye Vaade. We would like to thank the Mumbai Dabbawala association for giving us the opportunity to support the Dabbawalas as they resume their noble profession, that they have been performing relentlessly since the year 1890, reaching meals to over 2.6 lakh Mumbaikars every day in normal times. As a responsible corporate citizen, we stay focused on playing a contributing role, facilitating our diverse stakeholders to restart their activities in the right way.”

Ulhas Muke, President, Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Trust says “The Dabbawala association have provided their services to this city for the last 130 years. Our services came to a standstill due to the current pandemic situation. For 7 months, we were unable to provide our service & the rains spoilt several cycles we used for our day-to-day work. Using those cycles to resume our services had become extremely difficult. We had to resume our daily services & for that, we needed help with the cycles. This need of ours was fulfilled by ICICI Lombard who have provided our workers with hundreds of cycles as a gift for Diwali.”

To encourage others to come forward in support, ICICI Lombard has launched a digital film as well. The film closes with an emotional message stating ‘Proceeding towards your dreams become easier when you get new wheels of hope’.

The digital video was developed by Ogilvy. Talha Bin Mohsin and Mahesh Parab, Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy said “We all are trying to restart our lives after the lockdown was eased. But for the Dabbawalas of Mumbai, this journey has been rather tough. Not only did they have to stay out of service for months, but even after the restrictions were eased, they were struggling to resume their services due to their damaged cycles. Through this initiative, we wanted to restart hundreds of Dabbawalas’ livelihood, who have been providing Mumbai with healthy homecooked food.”

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