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From those hailing from airline and e-commerce industry like Indigo and Amazon to the companies from automobile sector like Mahindra & Mahindra, both private and public sectors are putting their best foot forward in their social initiatives amid the pandemic
Ever since corporate social responsibility has become a mandate across private companies as a part of their standard business practices, it has brought immense optimism and positivity to the corporate table and enhanced their communication with the general public. More importantly, it has greatly impacted the society on a grand scale. This year, CSR activities have become all the more direr considering the pandemic everyone has been grappling with lately. Even though the economy has been brought to a standstill with several companies across most of the sectors facing a major downfall in their sales and operations, it is commendable to see many of them not backing out from promoting and working for the social causes. Listed below are some of the major corporate houses and civil societies that have been responding to Covid-19 independently or through the PM-CARES Fund.
Ambuja Cements
Ambuja Cement, in association with ACC, both of which are a part of LafargeHolcim Group, have contributed around Rs 3.3 crore to support daily wagers, migrant labourers and those who have been stranded amid the pandemic. They undertook this social responsibility through Goonj, Praja Foundation and Mumbai Roti Bank.
National Thermal Power Corporation of India (NTPC)
NTPC, in its bid to help the nation in its fight against coronavirus, has donated over Rs 257 crore to PM-CARES Fund. In addition to this, the employees of the company have pledged to be a part of this fight as well. They contributed their one-day salary for the cause, that collectively amounted to around Rs 7 crore.
The Vedanta Group
With covid-19 posing unprecedented challenges mainly to marginalised communities, chairman of Vedanta Group Anil Agarwal has donated over Rs 205 crore for them and in fact, he was one of the first industry leaders to pledge funds for tackling the impact of the pandemic. Vedanta has also created a separate corpus of over Rs 100 crore to support the daily wage workers with their healthcare needs as well as the company’s employees and its partners. It has also joined hands with the Ministry of Textiles to import machines for the manufacturing of PPE. Furthermore, it has distributed over 10 lakh meals for daily wage workers, the underprivileged section and severely-hit communities.
PepsiCo India
PepsiCo India has committed to help the country fight against the pandemic through its NGO partners like Akshaya Patra Foundation, Smile Foundation and Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics. It has donated over 5 million meals and 25,000 Covid-19 testing kits across the country.
Reliance Foundation
When the covid-19 initially hit across the nation, the main challenge was setting up medical facilities. It was in the midst of all these that the HN Reliance Foundation Hospital offered to set up medical facilities to quarantine travellers from different parts of the world. Along with the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation), the Mukesh Ambani led foundation has set up a dedicated 100-bedded centre at Seven Hills Hospital in Mumbai.
Mahindra and Mahindra
The Indian multinational vehicle manufacturing company has immediately worked on making ventilators for covid-19 patients during the initial months of the pandemic outbreak. The Mahindra Holiday Resorts has been offered to the government as temporary care facilities. Additionally, Anand Mahindra has contributed 100 per cent of his salary to the corpus fund that the company has created, to help small scale businesses which are among the hardest covid-19-hit.
Parle Products
With many people stocking up food products when the lockdown was first imposed and many others from poor background walking on a tightrope between the fear of contracting coronavirus and being unable to feed their family, Parle Products donated over 3 crore packs of Parle G biscuits. With longer shelf life, the biscuits have come off as a saviour for those who were on the brink of starvation.
Indigo
Indigo Airlines offered to extend a helping hand in transporting medicines, relief materials and equipment from state to state leveraging its resources, aircraft and crew.
Amazon India
The e-commerce giant has launched Amazon Pharmacy – its online pharmacy arm when its business went through the roof during the lockdown period. The service has been launched in Bengaluru on a trial basis and the company is planning to further expand in other cities in the coming time, thus eliminating the need of people to visit pharmacies in-person.
Hindustan Unilever Limited
The company has pledged over Rs 100 crore and donated around 20 million pieces of Lifebuoy soaps to the underprivileged communities. It has also donated over Rs 10 crore to upgrade the health facilities and hospitals especially in terms of covid-19 testing and treatment.
Other than the aforementioned companies, there are several others as well that have also whole-heartedly donated in their bid to help the nation in its fight against covid-19. Nevertheless, it is laudable to see active participation from both the private and public sectors. From healthcare workers to daily wage earners, people from all walks of life have been affected by the pandemic financially or otherwise. Thus, such extraordinary circumstances necessitate the adoption and implementation of extraordinary measures and it is only through the financial and material donations from these firms that actualisation of these measures is possible.
In addition to making contributions to the PM-CARES Fund and partnering with NGOs and several local authorities, these companies have also been incorporating other CSR activities and initiatives to protect the interest of their employees and ensure their security as well. With millions of people getting furloughed from work across various sectors, it is commendable on the part of these companies which are making an extra effort during these challenging times.
