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Top CSR Contributions for Covid Relief in India

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The CSR Journal
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India Inc has risen to the challenge of the global pandemic with high-value CSR contributions in cash and kind. Corporate social responsibility has been giving hope to the despondent, food to the hungry, funds to the jobless and support to the frontline workers.

Top CSR contributions for Covid

Here are some of the biggest CSR contributions for Covid-19 from Indian companies. They are not only partnering with the government, NGOs and civil society organisations but also with each other for a higher purpose that goes beyond market competition.

Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble announced that the company will contribute towards the vaccination of over 5 lakh Indian citizens by pledging Rs. 50 crore in partnership with government and local authorities in India. For every P&G employee in India, the company is contributing towards the vaccination of 100 Indians. P&G brands Whisper, Vicks, Pampers, Oral-B, Head & Shoulders and Pantene are partnering in this vaccination drive through their brand CSR programmes and will also continue to raise awareness on safety and hygiene in the country.
This contribution towards vaccines will be on top of P&G’s earmarked CSR funds for the current year. As India fights the second wave of the pandemic, under its #PGSurakshaIndia programme, P&G will also continue to extend its support to the broader community through the donation of products, in-house manufactured masks and sanitizers especially to aid frontline and essential workers who are tirelessly working to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Procter & Gamble has donated more than 35 lakhs of health, hygiene and cleaning products (which include Whisper, Ariel, Tide, Vicks, Pampers etc.) to its surrounding communities. P&G stepped up its manufacturing capabilities to produce masks and hand sanitizers to donate more than 15 lakh masks in the country’s fight against COVID-19. In addition to this, the company launched ‘force for good’ campaigns, like Gillette Barber Suraksha Program, Whisper, P&G #ThankYouMa, Vicks #ShowWeCare and Tide #AngelsInWhite to support India’s fight against COVID-19.
In total, via these force for good campaigns and efforts from the company’s trial and in-store teams; P&G has reached more than 5 crore Indians to spread awareness on safety, health and hygiene. The Group also partnered with the government and industries to kickstart an initiative called ‘Suraksha Circles’ and engaged with more than 1400 organizations and SMEs to lay down standards of hygiene and safety at manufacturing facilities.

Wipro

Wipro Ltd, Wipro Enterprises Ltd and Azim Premji Foundation, have together committed Rs. 1125 crore towards tackling the unprecedented health and humanitarian crisis arising from the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. These resources are helping enable the dedicated medical and service fraternity in the frontline of the battle against the pandemic and in mitigating its wide-ranging human impact, particularly on the most disadvantaged.
These responses will be carefully coordinated with relevant government institutions and are executed by the Azim Premji Foundation’s 1600-person team, in collaboration with many of its over 350 strong civil society partners, who have a deep presence across the country.
Of the Rs. 1125 crore, Wipro Ltd’s commitment is Rs. 100 crore, Wipro Enterprises Ltd’s is Rs. 25 crore, and that of the Azim Premji Foundation is Rs. 1,000 crore. These sums are in addition to the annual CSR activities of Wipro, and the usual philanthropic spends of the Azim Premji Foundation.
Wipro Limited repurposed one of its IT campuses in Hinjewadi, Pune last year into a 450-bed intermediary care COVID-19 hospital in four weeks. The hospital was handed over to the Maharashtra state government in June 2020. The temporary hospital is equipped to treat moderate cases, and includes 12 beds to stabilise critical patients before shifting them to a tertiary care facility. This is an independent, isolated COVID-19 dedicated complex that also includes 24 rooms to accommodate doctors and medical staff.

HUL (Hindustan Unilever Ltd)

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) earmarked Rs. 100 crores in March 2020 towards helping India during the pandemic. In addition to its long-term global partnership with UNICEF, the company has contributed over 1 crore soaps and sanitizers to vulnerable communities during the outbreak. This contribution has been made in 18 states, including tribal areas, flood-hit regions, COVID hit villages and slums, remote tea estates amongst others. Ensuring access to hygiene products is the first step towards driving handwashing behaviour, especially when the country is still battling COVID infected cases every day.
Keeping the objective of Swachhata for all in mind, HUL and UNICEF have reached out to remote areas to help fight the pandemic. In April 2020, UNICEF and HUL came together for a mass-communication campaign titled ‘#BreakTheChain #VirusKiKadiTodo’.
To date, HUL has undertaken various initiatives to ensure the safety of people and communities, sourcing products and ensuring business continuity for consumers to have access to essential items at a time they need it the most. The initiatives include large scale awareness campaigns, providing free sanitation and hygiene products to Covid-19 frontline workers and to the under-served sections. Besides Maharashtra and New Delhi which have a high Covid-19 patient count, HUL is also extending product donation and other support across India around its manufacturing locations and offices in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Infosys

Infosys Foundation (the CSR arm of tech giant Infosys) has committed Rs. 120 crore to COVID-19 relief in India. More than one-third was contributed to the PM CARES Fund. Infosys has provided 2.4 million meals during this emergency and assisted more than 1 million people.
The donations have helped thousands of migrants weather the financial crisis with food and other basic assistance, provided first responders with badly needed protective gear, and supplied civilian and military hospitals with 142 ventilators. Millions of masks and gloves were purchased for police officers, health care volunteers, and others. Medical professionals received 10,000 face shields. Infosys paid for medical gas pipeline work at two hospitals.
Infosys and Narayana Health, one of India’s largest health care providers, set up a 100-room hospital in Bengaluru, entirely for COVID-19 patients. This facility is providing free care to low-income residents.

Mankind Pharma

As the country continues to grapple with the second wave of coronavirus pandemic, healthcare and frontline workers are racing against time to contain its spread. Many dedicated Corona warriors have lost their lives in the process. As a responsible organization, Mankind Pharma is standing alongside the families of these heroes and will donate Rs. 100 crores to support them.
In 2020, Mankind Pharma donated around Rs. 130 crore to the PM CARES Fund, CM Care Fund, and to martyred healthcare workers and police personnel. The company has donated ventilators, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and medicines. It has now pledged to donate a sum of Rs. 100 crores for the families of deceased doctors, police officers, pharmacists, and other healthcare workers.
Said Rajeev Juneja, Managing Director & Vice Chairman, Mankind Pharma, “We will never forget the loss borne by the families of the deceased frontline warriors. The company knows we can never do enough to replace their void but we can at least try to help them tide through these trying times.”

Vedanta

Vedanta committed Rs. 201 crore in the battle against Covid-19 last year, which included Rs. 101 crore donation to PM-CARES Fund and an additional Rs. 100 crore corpus for supporting communities, daily wage workers, preventive healthcare and welfare of employees/contract partners/ business partners. The company imported 23 PPE machines in collaboration with the Ministry of Textiles and has teamed up with authorized apparel manufacturers to roll out over 5000 PPEs per day.
The Vedanta group is spread across seven states with diverse socio-cultural fabric, so it adopted a 360-degree approach to reach out to the marginalized, needy and the frontline warriors. As a first line of defence, intensive awareness generation and sensitization was conducted by all the units alongside disinfection and sanitization drives in the villages around the business units. Safety PPEs were distributed among the community and frontline warriors. The units in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Odisha converted their existing hospitals and other facilities into Covid isolation wards.
To ensure food security, CSR of Vedanta launched the ‘Meals for All’ programme to extend supply of meals to lakhs of daily wagers. During the first phase of the program, support was extended to stray animals as well. Besides Meals for All, the Vedanta group of companies distributed dry ration kits among thousands of the marginalized and labourers.

Reliance

India’s largest private sector company Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) announced a donation of Rs. 500 crore to PM CARES Fund last year. This was in addition to the monetary contribution of Rs. 5 crore each to the governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat to support their work against Covid-19.
During the first phase of the pandemic, last year, Reliance Foundation (the CSR arm of RIL) and the BMC had set up India’s first COVID hospital in Mumbai, with a dedicated 225-bed facility at Seven Hills Hospital. Out of the 225 beds; 100 beds, including 20 ICU beds, are exclusively managed by Sir H N Reliance Foundation Hospital. The Foundation announced this week that it will create, commission and manage 100 ICU beds that will be made operational in phases from 15 May, 2021. Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital will take over, from 1st May the management and operations of a 550-bed ward, which is currently operational. Moreover, all the COVID patients in NSCI and Seven Hills Hospital will be treated absolutely free, according to a statement from Reliance Foundation.
RIL continues its 24×7, multi-pronged, on-the-ground effort to do its bit to ensure the nation remains prepared, fed, supplied, safe, connected and motivated despite the unprecedented challenges brought upon us all by the pandemic.

Amazon

Amazon Europe has committed $2.5 million to support India’s fight against Covid-19. The fund will be utilised to purchase and transport medical supplies. The company has said that it will deliver oxygen concentrators from Italy, ventilators from the UK, and nebulisers and inhalation devices from Germany. The products will be provided to Amazon frontline workers and local charities to help those infected with COVID-19 across multiple cities in India, thereby supporting the capacity of hospitals, medical facilities and public institutions. This is in addition to the company’s commitment to providing 100 ventilators worth $3.8 million, imported from the United States to India. The company said it was working closely with groups such as the Indian Red Cross under the guidance of Niti Aayog and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Google

Google has announced USD 18 million donation relief fund to help India.
Google CEO announced on twitter that the company would provide INR 135 crore to GiveIndia and UNICEF for medical supplies, organising high-risk communities, and grants to help spread crucial information.
On the blog, the country head and VP of Google India, Sanjay Gupta, said that the fund includes two grants from Google.org (Google’s philanthropic arm), totalling $2.6 million (INR 20 crore). Accordingly, the first grant would be given to GiveIndia to provide cash assistance to families hit by the crisis. The second tranche would go to UNICEF to help procure urgent medical supplies, including oxygen concentrator and testing equipment. Google has also started an employee giving campaign. So far, it has raised close to $500,000 (INR 3.7 crore) from more than 900 Google employees.

Microsoft

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has pledged support by providing oxygen concentrators to India. In a Twitter post, he said his company would continue to use its voice, resources and technology to help relief efforts.

 

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