IDFC FIRST Bank employees fund Ghar Ghar Ration program for 50,000 Covid-affected customers
IDFC FIRST Bank announced the launch of Ghar Ghar Ration Program, an employee-funded program for its low-income customers whose livelihoods are affected by COVID-19. The Bank also announced a comprehensive program for the families of employees who unfortunately lost their lives due to COVID-19, and a number of other CSR initiatives aimed at controlling the spread of the virus.
What is ‘Ghar Ghar Ration’?
“Ghar Ghar Ration” is a program where employees of IDFC First Bank have contributed from their personal income to set up a Customer COVID Care Fund to provide relief to 50,000 COVID affected low-income IDFC FIRST Bank customers. Employees of the Bank contributed one day to one month’s salary for the purpose.
The program involves supply of ration kits to such 50,000 low-income customers whose livelihood have been impacted by the pandemic.
Employees are procuring ration kits comprising 10 kg rice/ flour, 2 kg dal (lentils), 1 kg sugar and salt, 1 kg cooking oil, 5 packets of assorted spices, tea and biscuits and other essentials needed to support a small family for about a month. These ration kits are directly delivered in-person at customers’ homes with a personal touch from the Bank.
In rural locations, the ration kits are delivered physically by employees and in urban locations, employees provide pre-paid cards worth Rs. 1800 to affected customers, which can be used to buy such essential supplies. Impacted customers can directly contact the nearby branch to seek support under this program. Even overdue customers are eligible to get benefit under the program.
Under the pilot program, employees have already distributed 1000 ration kits in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Haryana successfully.
V Vaidyanathan, MD & CEO, IDFC FIRST Bank, said, “While we cannot solve all problems considering the magnitude of the crisis, we want to support our customers to the extent we can, and hence our “Ghar Ghar Ration” program. Under this program, our employees contributed varying amounts from a day’s salary to a month’s salary to create a COVID Customer Care Fund. We then decided to use this Fund for directly supporting our customers whose livelihood is affected due to COVID-19. Our employees will personally supply essential ration to our affected customers. We have been driving the philosophy of “Customer First” at our Bank and we felt that there is no better way to instil this philosophy in our employees than by employees directly contributing for the welfare of our affected customers.”
Jankari-mein-Samajdhari Program
In order to emphasise the urgency for COVID-19 vaccination, and to clear misconceptions relating to it, the Bank is reaching out to over five million of its customers in semi-urban and rural locations through digital means and distributing animated films through SMS links in nine different languages across Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Oxygen Concentrator Donation Program
The Bank has arranged oxygen concentrators across hospitals in 42 rural branches to meet the shortage of oxygen concentrators in rural hospitals.
Gaon-Gaon Mask Program
The Bank is enabling 64 Gram Sakhis (village level women entrepreneurs) working with the Bank’s flagship Swetdhara program in rural Madhya Pradesh, to lead local rural teams to stitch 1,00,000 masks. This creates livelihoods for the women entrepreneurs and the masks stitched by them are distributed to vulnerable rural communities, thus limiting the spread of the virus.
In addition, the bank is distributing over 4 lakh masks in rural and urban areas across 11 states to curb the spread of COVID-19 virus.
Cash Relief Support
The Bank is supporting 250 vulnerable families who have lost an earning member of their family to COVID-19 with cash relief support of Rs. 10,000 in partnership with Give India.
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