#StartupsVsCovid19: Amazon To Contribute 10% Of All Donations To PM CARES Fund

As India Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a special PM Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund, also known as the PM CARES Fund, several big names across several industries came together to contribute in the war against the coronavirus pandemic.

The recent entry to this list is none other than the global ecommerce giant Amazon. The company has urged its users to donate to PM CARES Fund or its Partner NGOs through its digital payments platform, Amazon Pay. Amazon has decided to make an additional donation of 10%. In total, the company is hoping to raise INR 100 Cr through its platform.

Users can make donations to the PM Cares fund through fast modes of payments such as debit cards, credit cards, NEFT, RTGS and internet banking. Besides this, the government has also enabled unified payments interface (UPI) through Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay, Mobikwik and others.

Besides Amazon, Paytm and Walmart Flipkart have also come forward to make their donations. Paytm has decided to contribute INR 500 Cr, while Flipkart will be donating INR 100 Cr. Besides this, Paytm and Walmart-owned digital payments platform PhonePe have decided to make an additional payment of INR 10 for every contribution made by their users.

However, the police departments has cautioned Indian against the fake UPI accounts that sprang up right after PM Modi announced the special fund.  As per the Delhi Police, the fake UPI ID was highlighted by a twitter user. Anyesh Roy, DCP of the cybercrime brand tweeted that the fake UPI “pmcare@sbi” was created to confused users as it is very similar to the correct UPI ID pmcares@sbi.

The police department informed the State Bank of India as soon as the issue was highlighted and the id was blocked. The matter is currently under investigation and efforts are being made to identify the accused. Even, National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC) in the PMO has issued a statement warning to cybercriminals not to take advantage of the present coronavirus crisis and commit financial frauds against unsuspecting citizens and enterprises.

Meanwhile, Amazon is also working towards ensuring a regular supply of essential items like groceries to Indians, who are currently under lockdown for 21 days. For this, the company has decided to completely shift its focus from all its delivery verticals and temporarily suspend its operations for the time being.

Amazon is currently selling products listed under categories like personal hygiene, grocery, home cleaning, health and fitness, and books. Besides this, Amazon is processing mobile and DTH recharges.

Amazon is currently serving in Bengaluru, Bhubaneshwar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jamshedpur, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Mohali, Mysuru, Patna, and Raipur.

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