‘We are in this together’ — Here’s how your contribution is helping India battle the COVID-19 crisis
India is currently battling a gruesome second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and as the country’s healthcare continues to be under pressure, Paytm has stepped forward to help in COVID-19 relief efforts.
We are undertaking efforts on a war footing in this fight against COVID and have launched #OxygenforLife initiative through ‘Paytm Foundation’. Paytm Foundation is a Public Charitable Trust formed exclusively for philanthropic purposes in the areas of providing relief in times of natural calamities and disasters, supplementing need-based medical infrastructure across the country, education, financial literacy, welfare of persons with disabilities, advancement of sports and recreational facilities, sanitation, and advancement of any other object of general public utility.
From oxygen concentrators being imported into India to oxygen plants being set up in cities, we have established a task force that is driving the relief efforts.
Thank you for your overwhelming support, we have raised over INR 25 crore
We know that we can turn to our users in a time of crisis. Leveraging our expansive user base in the payments ecosystem, we requested them to contribute for the relief efforts through donations. But we didn’t let them do it alone.Our founder made a bold call — Paytm would match rupee for rupee for every donation made on our platform.
And when the initiative, aptly titled #OxygenforLife, got an overwhelming response as INR 10 Crore worth donations poured in from users, we lived up to our word and doubled the total amount to INR 25 Crore. We are grateful for the support we got from our partners American India Foundation (AIF), Elevation Capital and others.
These funds will be utilized for immediate and long-term relief measures.
The initiative also turned out to be an emotional one. Scores of employees, who may have moved on from Paytm but still hold the company in high regard, reached out, offering to give up their stock options in the company and to donate it instead.
Entrepreneurs like Luke Coutinho reached out to our founder and didn’t hold back from doing their bit.
Oxygen for All
We sprung right into action. As a part of an immediate measure to help during the oxygen crisis in India, we are in the process of airlifting thousands of oxygen concentrators, which is being supplied to hospitals and institutions across the country.
Our endeavour behind the “OxygenforLife” initiative is aimed at addressing problem of “availability” of oxygen by sourcing of trusted quality Oxygen Concentrators and donating these to government hospitals, foundations and NGOs; as well as making available oxygen concentrators to private hospitals and Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) at cost price.
Paytm’s help for different states have been appreciated and lauded by India’s top leaders.
Paytm is helping India prepare for the future as well
As a part of its long-term relief measure, the company is in the process of installing oxygen plants across India. The oxygen plants will help produce medical oxygen from ambient air while simultaneously supplying the gas to multiple beds.
To build the long term capacity for Oxygen, in line with requirements received from State Government, Paytm foundation and AIF have collaborated to set up 17 Oxygen Plants at Government hospitals in various cities like Ahmedabad, Raigarh, Nasik, Pune, Faridabad, Jaipur, Aligarh, Lucknow, Noida, Pauri Garwal (Srinagar), Mohali, Bengaluru, Gwalior, New Delhi, Chennai, Patna and others. The proposed oxygen plants will be set up between 1st and 15th June and are PSA based plants with 15 cubic meter capacity per hour, which will make these hospitals self-sufficient in their oxygen requirement.
Vaccine Finder
When India opened up vaccination for all from May 1, we heard your concern of not being able to find a slot. Our teams got together, we leveraged our tech dominance to help people find slots for COVID-19 vaccination. The result was the Vaccine Finder feature launched on the app.
Today, hundreds of thousands users have been able to book their vaccination slots thanks to the alerts from Paytm’s COVID-19 vaccine finder.
Care for our Paytm family
Our employees are at the heart of everything we do at Paytm and when distress calls started pouring in from them, we helped the ones in need get access to medical supplies.
Over 60 Oxygen Concentrators were procured on war-footing and sent to employees in need.
Overnight a team was created, which was dedicated to helping employees in their times of distress. A dedicated 24/7 helpline service was established to initiate immediate relief, which handled over 100 calls a day. Additionally, a company-wide ongoing plasma donation drive to help fellow employees as well as citizens at large. Employees’ insurance policies were also upgraded to include COVID-19.
In the grim and unfortunate situation where an employee passes away due to COVID-19, we want to be able to help the families of the employee. Paytm has announced financial help worth a year’s salary to the employee’s family. Additionally, the HR department will also evaluate if anyone from the deceased employee’s family can be given an employment opportunity with Paytm.
At Paytm, we know that it’s a scary situation out there. So, to help our employees stay calm but informed, we organised a call with Dr Ritesh Malik of Radix Healthcare, for not just the thousands of employees of Paytm but also their families. Through a town hall, Sharma and Dr Malik addressed all the queries of employees and their families.
A company-wide vaccination drive has also been organised to encourage employees to come ahead and vaccinate.
The times are tough and we have to come together to sail through this. At Paytm, these efforts are just our small contributions to ensure all of us come out of this healthier, stronger and better.
