Corporate response to India’s second wave – some examples

Amazon said it would bear the businesstoday. Accenture cost of airlifting these oxygen in%2Fcurrent%2Feconomy- Partnering with Oxfam and Charities concentrators and BiPAP machines, politics%2Fapple-to-donate-to- Aid Foundation in India. Enabled by procured through multiple funders. covid-support-relief-efforts-in-india- Accenture, Oxfam provides digital tim-cook%2Fstory%2F437709.html training sessions for community “Covid-19 has severely impacted workers and with Charities Aid India in unimaginable ways. We Foundation, PPE for healthcare stand firmly with the country, workers. deploying our global logistics Delhivery network to urgently airlift the Logistics unicorn Delhivery’s chief Source: https://www.accenture.com/ needed oxygen concentrators to executive officer Sahil Barua wrote us-en/about/corporate-citizenship/ support the nation’s immediate on LinkedIn that they are ‘flying coronavirus-societal-response need,” said Amit Agarwal, global charters into India with oxygen senior vice president and country concentrators and other essential head, Amazon India. supplies and can build more Adani Group capacity on demand. Adani Group, importing four Source: https://www.business- standard.com/article/current-affairs/ Source: https://www.moneycontrol. cryogenic tanks with 80-tonne liquid com/news/india/covid-19-second- oxygen from Saudi Arabia. It is also covid-19-second-wave-amazon- to-airlift-over-10-000-oxygen- wave-delhivery-announces-flying- procuring 5,000 medical-grade charters-into-india-with-oxygen- oxygen cylinders from Linde Saudi concentrators-121042600013_1. html concentrators-other-essential- Arabia. supplies-6810811.html “We are on an urgent mission to secure oxygen supplies from across Apple the world. This first shipment of 4 Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted that Facebook ISO cryogenic tanks with 80 tonnes the company will donate to support Facebook founder and CEO Mark of liquid oxygen is on its way from relief efforts on the ground. Zuckerberg expressed his solidarity Dammam to Mundra” Adani group with India on his platform: chairman Gautam Adani tweeted. “Amid a devastating rise of COVID cases in India, our thoughts are “I’m thinking of everyone in India Source: https://timesofindia. with the medical workers, our and hoping we get this virus indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/ Apple family and everyone there under control soon. Facebook is adani-group-joins-efforts- who is fighting through this awful working with UNICEF to help people to-secure-medical-oxygen/ stage of the pandemic. Apple will understand when they should go to articleshow/82248424.cms be donating to support and relief the hospital and giving $10 million to efforts on the ground,” Tim Cook emergency response efforts. More tweeted on Tuesday. soon, and I hope you stay healthy,” Amazon India he wrote in a Facebook post. E-commerce giant Amazon India Source: https://twitter.com/tim_ cook/ Source: https://www.livemint. has joined hands with ACT Grants, com/companies/news/amazon- Temasek Foundation and Pune status/1386780398609 309698?ref_ facebook-vivo-others-extend- Platform for Covid-19 Response support-in-india-s-fight-against- (PPCR), and other partners to src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp urgently airlift over 8,000 oxygen %5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm% covid-11619569019590.html concentrators and 500 bi-level 5E1386780398609309698%7 Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_& positive airway pressure (BiPAP) machines from Singapore. ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.

“Our employees have shown Godrej group Google exemplary perseverance, Godrej group under the aegis of Google & Googlers are providing professionalism and dedication Protekt India Movement, comprises ₹135 crores in funding to GiveIndia, to serve millions of customers. relief supply of over 200,000 units UNICEF for medical supplies, Covering the cost of vaccination for of Godrej Protekt sanitizers and organizations supporting high-risk our employees and their dependent handwash products to Ujala Cygnus communities, and grants to help family members is a small gesture Hospitals. The supply includes spread critical information. This from the organisation to express our Godrej Protekt sanitizers which will includes two grants from Google. gratitude to our employees,” Vinay be used for patients and healthcare org, Google’s philanthropic arm, Razdan, Group Head HR, HDFC workers, who are at the frontlines in totalling 20 Crore INR (USD 2.6 Bank, said. this pandemic. The donation will be million). The first is to GiveIndia to utilized across 13 hospitals of the provide cash assistance to families Source: https://www.business- Ujala Cygnus Group of Hospitals hit hardest by the crisis to help standard.com/article/pti-stories/ spread over , Haryana, with their everyday expenses. The hdfc-bank-to-cover-vaccination- Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. second will go to UNICEF to help get cost-of-employees-family- urgent medical supplies, including members-121031200853_1.html Source: https://indiacsr.in/ oxygen and testing equipment, to csr-godrej-and-ujala-cygnus- where it’s needed most in India. hospital-group-partner-for-an- initiative-to-beat-the-ongoing- “It also includes donations from Hindustan Unilever Consumer goods giant Hindustan wave-of-covid-19/ our ongoing employee giving Unilever said it will provide 4,000 campaign — so far, more than oxygen concentrators to India to 900 Googlers have contributed help meet the medical oxygen 3.7 Crore INR (USD 500,000) for Goldman Sachs requirement of home-bound organizations supporting high-risk Global financial services giant patients and hospitals amid the and marginalized communities,” Goldman Sachs announced an devastating second wave of Sanjay Gupta India’s Google head additional USD 10 million support Covid-19. to help India fight the surge in said in a statement. The company, which will be putting COVID-19 infections and deaths. Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/ in Rs30 crore in this initiative, has Frontline health facilities include world-asia-india-56845275 portable COVID-19 care centres, partnered with KVN Foundation and oxygen concentrators and https://twitter.com/sundarpichai/ home healthcare company Portea generators, and isolation care units status/13865289388899 Medical to put them to use. 08231?ref_ at homes for non-critical patients Portea will have access to 3,000 src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp from low-income communities; concentrators, which will be %5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E adding funds will also be deployed provided free of charge to patients. 1386528938889908231%7Ctwgr on mental wellbeing to aid a faster The The remaining will be donated %5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_ economic recovery in communities. by HUL to hospitals at some 20 url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww. locations across the country, the “India is home to three Goldman businesstoday. company said in a statement. Sachs offices, and we have a in%2Fcurrent%2Feconomy- responsibility to respond and politics%2Fapple-to-donate-to- “The entire Unilever family is rallying provide our firm’s support and covid-support-relief-efforts-in-india- together to support India in this assistance,” its chairman and chief tim-cook%2Fstory%2F437709.html moment of crisis by helping secure executive David M Solomon said. oxygen concentrators which are “We are proud to support India in in severe short supply,” said Sanjiv combating this crisis, helping to HDFC Mehta, chairman of HUL. augment its medical infrastructure HDFC Bank has announced that Source: https://economictimes. and drive vaccination efforts,” its it will bear the cost of vaccination indiatimes.com/news/ chairman and chief executive for of over 100,000 employees and company/corporate-trends/ India, Sonjoy Chatterjee, said. their immediate family members hul-to-donate-4000-oxygen- against coronavirus. HDFC Bank, concentrators-in-tie-up-with- Source: https://www.goldmansachs. India’s largest private bank in terms portea/articleshow/82507411. com/media-relations/press- of m-cap, said it would reimburse cms?from=mdr releases/2021/relief-and-recovery- vaccination costs for the two india.html mandated doses. Infosys Jindal industries Procter & Gamble The company has set up COVID-19 In Haryana, the OP Jindal Modern Procter & Gamble said it would care centres for its employees as School operated by Jindal Stainless contribute Rs50 crore to vaccinate well as their families. Currently, the in Hisar is converted into a covid over 5 lakh citizens through centres are located in Pune and emergency hospital with ICU beds. partnerships with government and Bengaluru and are in process of Given the pandemic, the oxygen local authorities in India. setting up similar facilities across its plant at the Hisar facility of Jindal “In the current situation and going major offices in India. Stainless runs up to a capacity forward, vaccines play a critical of 150 per cent. The plant has “In order to support employees role in containing the spread of the increased its oxygen production and their family members who virus,” Madhusudan Gopalan, CEO, capacity to 7.5 -8 MT per day from 6 have contracted COVID-19 and P&G Indian Subcontinent, said, MT per day. need special medical care beyond without disclosing the states where home quarantine, Infosys has set up “With a country-first motto in mind, it plans to offer free vaccines. Employee COVID Care Centres in we are ready to supply more oxygen Pune and Bengaluru.” to hospitals even if this is at the Source: https://us.pg.com/blogs/pg- expense of the production,” he said. india-supports-vaccine-efforts/ Source: https://analyticsindiamag. com/infosys-opens-covid-19- Source: https://www.livemint. care-centre-for-employees-family- com/companies/news/india- Reliance Industries (RIL) members/ inc-offers-balm-amid-viral- Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) disaster-11619547887051.html supplies 700-tonne liquid medical oxygen to Gujarat, Maharashtra, ITC Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Daman, Diu & ITC has tied up with Linde India JSW Steel Nagar Haveli. The company plans to airfreight 24 cryogenic ISO JSW Steel is supplying 1,000 to scale this up to 1,000 MT per containers of 20 tonnes in each tonnes of oxygen per day and plans day to meet the needs of one lakh Asian countries for use by them to to ramp it up. JSW steel also setting people/day. In addition, the Reliance transport medical oxygen across up new hospitals to tackle COVID Foundation has also ordered the the country. In addition, ITC is pandemic challenge. setting up of new hospital wards airlifting a large number of oxygen Seshagiri Rao M.V.S., chairman, and ICU beds and has decided concentrators for distribution, its CII Task Force on Oxygen Supply to manage a dedicated 650-bed paperboards unit in Bhadrachalam Chain and joint managing director Covid-19 care facility in the city’s has commenced supply of oxygen and group CFO, JSW Steel Ltd, Worli area. to neighbouring areas. From said “the task force has proposed cryogenic oxygen containers “There is an immediate need to to the government to use direct to oxygen concentrators and maximise India’s production and vessels to import liquid oxygen and generators, ITC is working towards transportation capacities for remove other logistical bottlenecks mitigating the current crisis in medical grade oxygen. I am proud to reduce the transit time, ensure oxygen supply in the second wave of our engineers at Jamnagar who speedy clearances and transport of Covid-19. have worked tirelessly, with a great to the destinations through green sense of patriotic urgency, to meet “ITC is committed to supporting corridors and augment capacity to dis new challenge,” Mukesh Ambani the government in its fight against produce additional oxygen using the debilitating pandemic and will supercritical process”. Source: https://www.businesstoday. continue to explore other avenues in/current/corporate/reliance-rallies- Source: https://www.business- to help address the challenges covid-19-efforts-on-war-footing- standard.com/article/companies/ emerging during these trying times” becomes-indias-largest-producer- covid-steel-companies-looking-at- said the company in an official of-medical-oxygen/story/438008. various-ways-to-mitigate-oxygen- statement. html crisis-121042701008_1.html Source: https://www.business- standard.com/article/companies/ covid-19-itc-helps-in-easing- oxygen-crisis-ties-up-with-linde- india-121042400648_1.html

UPL is leading sanitization efforts SAP in local hospitals to help medical Last April, SAP established a €3M Tata steel has increased its daily industry and hospitals combat COVID-19 Emergency Fund to supply of medical oxygen to second wave of COVID-19 in India. support organizations on the front health centres to 600 tonnes with lines, including the World Health Source: https://www.upl- increased logistics support. Organization and CDC Foundation. ltd.com/press_release/ Last week SAP doubled its TV Narendran, president-designate, eNmlgjs8E1pkpHROQ commitment by adding another CII, and CEO and managing director YPZmyuS7yw3XGSSig2K1svV.pdf €3M for a total of €6M to the of Tata Steel, said, COVID-19 Emergency Fund with “There is a dire need to increase the a focus on India. For this second availability of oxygen and address Vistara () phase commitment, SAP will Vistara has offered help to the logistical issues in transporting donate €1M to COVAX, an effort government organizations, hospitals oxygen across the country. The co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic in immediate need of air logistics. biggest bottleneck is the shortage Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), The has also contributed to of cryogenic containers. Tatas are Gavi, the World Health Organization fly doctors and nurses representing importing 36 cryogenic vessels by (WHO), and long-term SAP partner government organizations, free of this month-end. Tata Steel is also UNICEF, to accelerate fair and cost, across its domestic network. supplying over 600 MT medical equitable access to vaccines for oxygen from its plants to hospitals”. “...we want to help government every country in the world. Beyond organisations/hospitals in that donation, we will use the Source: https://www.livemint. immediate need of air logistics. We emergency fund to support India- com/companies/news/covid19- welcome requests from accredited based employees, their families, and tata-steel-raises-daily-oxygen- organisations representing the the communities in which they live supply-to-600-tonnes-for-health- Government of India and state and work. This includes facilitating centres-11619433524073.html governments/union territories. We vaccinations to employees and will evaluate these to extend as their families at our SAP Labs India much support as possible, based facilities and augmenting public on the availability of cargo space,” health care systems with the aim to UPL Vistara said in an official statement. build additional provisions of oxygen UPL is converting 4 nitrogen plants supplies and ventilators. for oxygen production; will supply to Delhi, Gujarat and Madhya Source: https://www.business- Pradesh https://www.cnbctv18.com/ standard.com/article/current-affairs/ business/upl-to-convert-4-nitrogen- covid-19-vistara-offers-to-fly- plants-for-oxygen-production- doctors-nurses-free-of-cost- will-supply-to-delhi-gujarat-and- across-country-121042600059_1. mp-9066021.htm html