Corporate India has been making large contributions to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF), and finding other ways to help too.
The biggest donor so far is the Adani Foundation, with Rs. 25 crore for immediate relief, and another Rs. 25 crore committed for rehabilitation and resettlement. AF also has teams in remote areas distributing materials to relief camps, and has started rehabilitation work in collaboration with the group’s Vizhinjam port project.
The Reliance Foundation has donated Rs. 21 crore, and also has relief teams on the ground. RF has committed to setting up medical camps , supplying medicines to the government for use by district authorities, and providing construction equipment and workers to repair public infrastructure. The parent group has contributed relief material close to Rs. 50 crore, mostly through Reliance Retail.
Other significant corporate donors to the CMDRF are the Kerala State Electricity Board (Rs. 25cr), ICICI Bank (Rs. 8cr), Ramco Cements (Rs. 2cr), TVS Motors (Rs. 1.5cr), Hero Motors, MRF, Muthoot Finance, Sun TV, and TV Sundaram Iyengar & Sons (Rs. 1cr each). VIT University, Vellore, sent Rs. 1 crore. The Mumbai-based Jyothi Laboratories, whose promoters hail from the State, donated Rs. 1.28 crore. From West Asia, Dubai-based Fathi Health Care Group and Abir Group of Saudi Arabia donated Rs. 1 crore each. Axis Bank donated Rs. 2 crore and committed another Rs. 3 crore for rehabilitation through partner NGOs. Employees of GAIL have contributed a day’s salary totalling Rs. 1.54 crore.
The oil PSUs collectively donated Rs. 25 crore, and the Seafood Exporters Association sent Rs. 1.15 crore. CII-Telangana said member companies, including TCS, ITC PSPD, Gati, Shree Malani Group, Ankur Biscuits, Ravi Foods, and a few individual donors had sent over 23 tonnes of relief material.
Kerala-based Josco Jewellers contributed Rs. 2.5 crore and Kalyan Jewellers Rs. 1.1 crore.
Tech majors chip in
International majors and domestic players used technology to enhance relief work and help channel donations.
Google’s Geo platform is using a mix of news and crowdsourced data, and Google Developers Experts issued warnings of closed roads across the most affected districts. Google also activated its Person Finder in English and Malayalamand added local updates and official emergency resources to its SOS alert service. It also added a Distress Relief Fund button to Tez, its payment app.
Retailer Amazon India is supporting non-profits Habitat for Humanity India, World Vision India, and Goonj, and encouraging customers to donate relief goods to them through its platform. The company said employees have donated lakhs of rupees through its in-house volunteering portal.
Microsoft is also encouraging donations from its employees from their August salaries, and the company will match that sum. German software-maker SAPis asking its employees to contribute funds, relief materialand goods for the ongoing clean-up.
Many companies have used their core offerings to channel public goodwill.
E-commerce major Flipkart and online grocery firms Grofers and Bigbasket are encouraging customers to donate funds and goods to Goonj.
( With inputs from Peerzada Abrar & N. Ravi Kumar)
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