Naspers-backed Prosus commits Rs 100 cr to PM CARES Fund

The Netherlands headquartered Prosus, an international internet assets division of multinational internet group Naspers, has committed Rs 100 crore to help India fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company will make the donation in Prime Minister’s citizen assistance and relief in emergency situations fund (PM CARES Fund), according to the statement.

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“These are unprecedented times and we want to play our part in contributing to the efforts underway in India. By working with government and civil society, we hope to help India overcome this very difficult period,” Bob van Dijk, group CEO at Prosus and Naspers said in a statement. 

Prosus has so far invested over $5 billion in Indian technology businesses including classifieds, payments and fintech, ecommerce, education, and food delivery. It has picked stakes in food delivery platform Swiggy, edtech platform Byju’s, social commerce platform Meesho, and fintech company PayU.

Read: Ashutosh Sharma on why Prosus Ventures is now ready for early stage bets in India

PM CARES, a dedicated national fund, was recently created by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deal with any emergency or distress situation in India, such as the one posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Infosys Foundation, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) unit of technology major Infosys; digital payments platform Paytm, owned by One97 Communications; Flipkart’s digital payments subsidiary PhonePe are among several others companies that have pledged donations to the fund. 

India has a total of 8,447 Covid-19 positive cases which has resulted in 273 deaths, according to data from the World Health Organisation (WHO).