Over the past year and a half, India has witnessed and battled multiple phases and aspects of the global pandemic, whether it is the healthcare crisis, economic instability, mental fatigue, or excessive uncertainty. Wave after wave, the nation has had no choice but to be strong and fight back. Towards the end of April 2021, India was stuck in a terrible second wave where the spread of the virus peaked beyond control that stretched the healthcare infrastructure to its maximum limit.
We saw several NGOs, small businesses, as well as large corporations step forward to extend help to those fighting the deadly disease and their families in the form of readily available medicines, hospital beds, oxygen cylinders and concentrators, home-cooked meals, and financial aid.
How Razorpay joined hands to help amplify Covid relief efforts
At Razorpay, we were moved by the unwavering spirits and tremendous efforts of businesses and NGOs working tirelessly to help save lives. We wanted to help amplify their efforts and make them accessible to those in need as well as those who wanted to donate to their cause.
To enable NGOs and corporations to collect donations via digital payments, Razorpay allowed them to quickly create relevant Payment Pages and start accepting donations in no time. We not only expedited the activation process for any new NGO that signed up for Razorpay payment pages but also ensured they could accept donations as seamlessly as possible.
All NGOs and businesses using Razorpay Payment Pages to accept donations were eligible for:
We created a publicly accessible Covid relief page that featured all verified Razorpay partner NGOs that were collecting donations at the time so that anyone who wished to donate could simply do so from that page. We encouraged businesses using Razorpay to help spread the word and urge their customers to donate to any of the NGOs looking for support by linking their customers to our Covid relief page once they completed a transaction on their platform.
Very often, people want to support and help NGOs so they can continue their good work, but in unprecedented crises like these, they are not aware of how they can connect with organisations that need their support. With our initiative, we wanted to make sure that anyone capable and willing to donate to help Covid affected families should be able to do so without a second thought.
How India came together to extend help to those in India
It was a difficult time for all Indians, to say the very least. However, it gave us hope to see the overwhelming support that our partners received in the form of donations in a short period of time. Razorpay’s Covid relief initiative was active from 30th April to 30th July 2021, and within a span of these 3 months, various not-for-profit organisations collected over Rs. 100 crore in the form of 6 lakh+ donations.
Also, over 10,000 Razorpay partner businesses joined hands to help these organisations raise funds. Customers that made any successful purchase from such businesses were encouraged to make a donation to one of the Razorpay partnered NGOs via the Covid relief page.
The NGOs we partnered with extended help to fellow Indians by:
- Supplying critical life-saving equipment such as oxygen cylinders and concentrators, and inaccessible and expensive medicines to patients
- Helping with access to hospital beds, ambulance services, medicines, and treatment to patients who weren’t able to get proper medical care or couldn’t afford it
- Providing PPE kits, masks, sanitisers, oximeters, steam inhalers, and other essentials to front line warriors and anybody else in need
- Offering ration to the daily wage workers who lost their source of income
- Providing home-cooked meals to affected patients and families
- Collecting funds to provide for a safe home, education, and food for orphaned children
- Gathering funds for families who lost their sole breadwinners so they could meet their short-term expenses
- Offering mental health services to those undergoing emotional distress and trauma to promote overall well-being
As we look back at those stressful days, we feel endlessly grateful towards our front line heroes as well as organisations and people who made it their lives’ mission to help India fight this mammoth catastrophe. While we are not completely out of the pandemic yet, we hope the situation continues to improve so we can all return to the old normal very soon.
