Flipkart subsidiary PhonePe pledges $13 mn for PM CARES fund

Walmart owned-Flipkart’s digital payments subsidiary PhonePe has pledged to donate up to Rs 100 crore or $13.25 million to the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund, over and above donations made through its platform, it said on Saturday. 

The Bengaluru based company has pledged to contribute Rs 10 (13 cents) for every donation, as minimum an amount as Rs 1 (0.01 cent), made through its platform to the national fund till April end.

PM CARES, the dedicated national fund was created by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday for the purpose of dealing with any emergency or distress situation in India, such as the one posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Read: Coronavirus India LIVE Updates

Prime Minister Modi is the chairman of the fund’s trust and its members include defence, home and finance ministers, according to the PM’s website.

PhonePe has pledged to contribute Rs 10 or 13 cents for every Indian who donates as minimum as Rs 1 or 0.01 cent to the national fund, using Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on its digital payments platform till April 30.

“The #100CrorePledge is an attempt to lift the mood of the country in this period of crisis. We are asking every Indian to unite together and donate, even if it's just Rs 1, to the PM CARES Fund,” Sameer Nigam, founder and CEO at PhonePe said in a statement on Sunday.

Covid-19 or Corona Virus Disease-2019 has spread to 1,024 individuals in India and has claimed 27 lives, as of 7 AM Monday.

Experts suggest that the figures are only expected to rise in the coming months. Last week, Modi announced a nationwide lockdown for 21 days in an effort to reduce the spread of the pandemic in the country.