Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Reliance Foundation are among the largest donors as India Inc steps up relief efforts in the second wave of Covid hitting India.
RIL set up 1,875 hospital beds for free treatment of Covid patients in Jamnagar and Mumbai. The 100-bed facility at Seven Hills, Mumbai, was India’s first dedicated Covid treatment facility set up in April 2020.
In addition, RIL created several quarantine and isolation facilities across Mumbai, Surat, Lodhivali, and other sites. RFH set up an exclusive 10-bed dialysis center at the Hindu Hriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Trauma Care Hospital, Mumbai.
RIL is producing and supplying 1,000 MT of oxygen free of cost, accounting for nearly 11 percent of India’s medical oxygen needs. Nearly one in 10 ICU patients in India are getting oxygen from Reliance.
RIL also converted facilities at Alok Inds to produce 1 lakh plus affordable PPE kits plus face masks per day to overcome import dependency.
The company has donated Rs 556 crore to PM Cares and other Funds.
It’s Mission Anna Seva provided 5.5 crore plus meals — cooked meals, ready-to-eat food packets, food coupons, dry ration kits — across 80 districts, 18 states, and one UT, and is set to supply an additional 2 crore plus meals in May/June 2021.
RIL also distributed 81 lakh plus masks to frontline warriors and communities across 19 states and two UTs. Small multi-lingual booklets were also distributed to create awareness.
Reliance Foundation provided 5.5 lakh plus liters of free fuel to 14,000 plus notified ambulances and vehicles engaged in Covid-19 services across 249 districts in 18 states.
It also operates nine MMUs in Shahdol, Nagothane, Dahanu, Jhajjar and Ghazipur, providing medical services.
Several other leading corporates have made significant contributions as part of India Inc’s relief response. Wipro and Azim Premji Foundation committed Rs 1,125 crore, converted an IT Facility in Pune into a 450-bed intermediary care Covid Hospital and have given food support to 32 crores so far.
Infosys committed Rs 200 crore, 2.4 million meals to around 1 million people, mostly poor and migrant labor, and distributed millions of masks and sanitizers for police, medical professionals, and volunteers.
Cipla committed Rs 25 crore, including Rs 9 crore to PM Cares Fund, and supplied essentials, ration kits, and meals to migrant workers. They served 1,44,000 meals to migrant workers, and 1,32,700 masks, gloves, etc., distributed to more than 10,000 doctors and thousands of paramedical staff.
Mankind Pharma donated Rs 100 crore to support families of Covid warriors. This is in addition to already donating Rs 130 crore to PM Cares Fund.
Vedanta committed Rs 201 crore, with Rs 101 crore to PM Cares Fund, and the remaining for the welfare of frontline workers, daily wage earners, and employees of business partners. They launched the ‘Meals for All’ scheme, distributing free meals to lakhs of daily wage workers, while dry ration kits were given to thousands of daily wage workers, marginalized poor.
Tata Group committed Rs 1,500 crore and free distribution of 3.5 million masks and gloves. JSW Group committed Rs 500 crore to combat coronavirus.
Mahindra Group set up 17 kitchens at all its plants and distributed over 4.2 lakh meals across its plants to migrant labor. The Group started producing face masks, faceshields, and aerosol boxes for the first time and distributed 4,00,000 faceshields across the country by December 2020.
ITC created a Covid Contingency Fund of Rs 215 crore, Adani Group pledged Rs 100 crore to PM Cares Fund, and ONGC committed Rs 300 crore to PM Cares Fund as of April 1, 2020, plus about Rs 16 crore contributed by its 31,100-strong workforce.
BPCL earmarked a Rs 100.10 crore budget for Covid-19 relief efforts; the SBI pledged Rs 100 crore to PM Cares Fund contributed by its employees. In addition, it committed Rs 71 crore to tackling the second wave Covid crisis.
ICICI Foundation committed Rs 100 crore to fight the Covid-19 pandemic (Rs 80 crore to PM Cares Fund and Rs 20 crore to state governments, hospitals, and police forces and distributed 2.13 lakh surgical masks, over 40,000 N95 masks, 20,000 liters of sanitizers, and 16,000 gloves.
L&T donated Rs 150 crore to PM Cares Fund, HDFC Bank donated Rs 150 crore to PM Cares Fund, and Paytm committed a total of Rs 500 crore to PM Cares Fund by paying up to Rs 10 on every transaction made.
Walmart Foundation committed Rs 61 crore to support various NGOs involved in Covidrelief activities. Supplied 6,00,000 N95 masks, and Walmart, Flipkart, and PhonePe set up on-site vaccination clinics for associates and their households – covering more than two lakh people.
HUL earmarked Rs 100 crore in March 2020 and contributed 1 crore soaps, sanitizers, etc. to vulnerable communities.
Citigroup committed Rs 200 crore (for the next three Fys), and Rs 75 crore for immediate Covid relief like oxygen supplies, protective equipment supplies, testing equipment etc. Google donated a relief fund of Rs 135 crore. Employees too pooled in Rs 3.7 cr for supporting high-risk, marginalized communities.
