The COVID-19 outbreak has not solely led to a well being disaster, however has additionally impacted individuals at social and financial ranges. The financial slowdown, jobs loss, rising costs, scarcity of protecting gears, and so forth., have solely added to individuals’s woes, forcing them, particularly the labour group, emigrate again to their hometowns for survival.
Credit score: Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Official Twitter Deal with
In such tough instances, Noida-based fintech unicorn Paytm, over the previous couple of weeks, has launched a number of initiatives to combat the unfold of the coronavirus.
Chatting with YourStory, a Paytm spokesperson revealed that in March, the corporate launched ‘India Fights Corona’ marketing campaign in partnership with Lifebuoy and Yuvraj Singh’s YouWeCan, so as to accumulate funds and donate hygiene merchandise in distant areas throughout the nation.
“Paytm’s philosophy has all the time been to be a ‘People First’ firm. When COVID-19 made its unlucky entry into India, we instantly mentioned providing help to individuals who may not have the means to combat this pandemic alone. Our founder and CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, together with the senior administration, motivated the groups to provide you with modern options to assist residents throughout the pandemic,” the spokesperson stated.
Giving again to the society
The corporate stated, it has distributed round 4 lakh masks and 10 lakh hygiene merchandise reminiscent of soaps and handwash until date as part of its ‘India Fights Corona’ marketing campaign. Other than this, the fintech main claims to have distributed over 75,000 meals to truck drivers throughout main toll plazas throughout the nation.
“We have also served over 4.4 million free meals to migrants and daily wage workers across cities with the support of various associations. In fact, we learned that meals were not available to millions of passengers on Shramik Express trains, and we immediately reached out to the nearest kitchens to ensure they do not starve while in transit,” the spokesperson stated.
The corporate stated Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma was on the forefront of the initiative, and ensured meals had been delivered to the migrant staff. “Our founder wanted to ensure that daily wagers and migrants do not go hungry on his watch. He took a personal interest in ensuring that a maximum number of migrants receive quality food while travelling.”
Along with this, the corporate stated Vijay has forgone his wage for 2 months to help Paytm workers.
Within the month of April, the fintech firm launched its COVID-19 Profit Insurance coverage Coverage in partnership with Reliance Common Insurance coverage.
In keeping with the official assertion, the coverage, with a validity interval of 1 yr, was launched to cut back monetary implications that folks would possibly expertise as a result of pandemic. The coverage offers cowl towards prognosis, 14-day quarantine, lack of pay or jobs. Other than this, it additionally offers a waiver to the 45 days journey exclusion coverage as add-ons.
“This coverage covers people between the ages of three months to 60 years, with a variety of sum-insured choices starting from Rs 25,000 to Rs 2 lakh,” the assertion famous.
The fintech firm additionally claims to have partnered with quick meals restaurant chain McDonald’s to distribute burgers to the medical doctors and healthcare professionals treating COVID-19 sufferers. Other than this, Paytm joined palms with OYO, Treebo, and Ginger Lodges, and launched a particular lodge listings web page on its app to assist healthcare professionals with short-term lodging.
The corporate has additionally dedicated to donate to Prime Minister’s Citizen Help and Aid in Emergency Conditions Fund (PM-CARES). The spokesperson stated:
“We’re additionally enabling individuals to donate for the PM CARES fund, and have already collected over Rs 125 crore.” In keeping with the corporate, the donations had been made by the Paytm workers within the type of wage contributions starting from 15 days of wages to as many months they needed to contribute.
The fintech unicron stated it’s encouraging Paytm customers to return and help the nation throughout this unprecedented time, and has thus launched a devoted donation part on the app to assist customers contribute on this time of adversity.
Preventing COVID-19 with innovation
Whereas these had been a few of the exterior initiatives taken up by the corporate, it additionally launched a slew of providers and options on its platform to assist shoppers make protected and contactless funds.
It has revamped the Paytm apps consumer interface (UI) with a ‘Stay at home Essential Payments’ function. It has additionally launched a COVID-19 Data Centre to maintain customers up-to-date with verified info from authorities our bodies and well being authorities.
Paytm can be permitting customers to take COVID-19 self-assessment check powered by Apollo 24/7, which has been developed on the premise of pointers from the World Well being Organisation (WHO) and the Ministry of Well being and Household Welfare, Authorities of India. Paytm additionally unveiled a contactless ticket shopping for facility for state-run native transport buses.
“We additionally enabled cellular recharges for function telephones with Vodafone Concept numbers with only a legitimate UPI ID. We did this in partnership with Vodafone Concept and Nationwide Funds Company of India (NPCI) to increase this service all through the nation. This service relies on the NPCI’s modern fee service *99#, which works on the Unstructured Supplementary Service Knowledge (USSD) channel. It permits cellular banking transactions utilizing primary function telephones with out the necessity of getting a cellular web knowledge facility for utilizing USSD primarily based banking. It’s envisioned on the monetary inclusion of the underbanked in mainstream banking providers,” the spokesperson stated.
The corporate can be contemplating coming into right into a strategic partnership to advertise the adoption of digital transactions. Amid the COVID-19 scenario, the fintech firm joined palms with Indian Oil Company Restricted (IOCL) to allow digital transactions throughout its gas stations in addition to LPG cylinder supply ecosystem.
As India began to open up after two months of lockdown, the corporate additionally developed and launched ‘contactless in-store ordering’ know-how to allow individuals to dine and order meals safely. It launched ‘Scan to Order’ contactless meals ordering and funds throughout eating places, espresso outlets, and take-away institutions to make sure social distancing and promote protected eating.
Going past its monetary options model, Paytm can be utilizing innovation to combat pretend information and misinformation. To make sure solely details and verified info reaches individuals, it’s now offering free entry to over 50 nationwide and regional e-newspapers and magazines on Paytm app.
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