India Inc comes together to support battle against COVID-19

A host of Indian corporates continued to support India's battle against the deadly coronavirus epidemic (COVID-19) on Tuesday with Bharti Enterprises committing over Rs 100 crore.

New Delhi [India], Mar 31 : A host of Indian corporates continued to support India's battle against the deadly coronavirus epidemic (COVID-19) on Tuesday with Bharti Enterprises committing over Rs 100 crore.

In addition to the Rs 100 crore committed by Bharti Enterprises, its employees are making personal voluntary contributions towards the cause. Bharti compes will match the amount contributed by their employees, and the same will be contributed towards the COVID-19 initiatives."These are extremely challenging times as the world battles the biggest healthcare crisis of modern era in the form of COVID-19 epidemic," said Bharti Enterprises.

"As a nation, our immediate priority is to collectively support the government efforts to mitigate the impact of this crisis," it said in a statement. A significant portion of the Rs 100 crore corpus will be immediately contributed to the PM-CARES Fund.

The balance amount will be directed towards sourcing of masks, personal protective equipment and other key equipment for doctors, healthcare workers and essential services personnel who are at the forefront of this massive battle.

Over a million N-95 masks are being procured and will be made available on an immediate basis, said Bharti Enterprises.

Meanwhile, TVS Motor Company announced a contribution of Rs 5 crore towards Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund to aid the battle against COVID-19. The contribution was made through Srinivasan Services Trust (SST), the CSR arm of TVS Motor Company.

In addition to this, TVS Motor Company and its group compes have already pledged Rs 25 crore to the PM's Relief Fund (PM-CARES).

Jindal Steel and Power has also made an immediate contribution of Rs 25 crore to PM-CARES Fund.

A day earlier, Reliance Industries announced a donation of Rs 500 crore to the PM-CARES Fund to support the country's fight against COVID-19. It has also provided contributions of Rs 5 crore each to the Maharashtra and Gujarat state governments.

India's first exclusive COVID-19 hospital was recently launched by Reliance Industries.

India's largest private sector company has been providing one lakh masks daily for health workers and caregivers, thousands of personal protective equipment besides free fuel across the country to notified emergency response vehicles.

Navaratna public sector mining company NMDC Ltd said it will contribute Rs 150 crore to the PM-CARES Fund to help in the fight against COVID-19. It is the biggest support yet offered by any public sector enterprise for the initiative, it said in a statement.

( With inputs from ANI )