Unrestricted Incoming services till April 17thand Rs 10 talk time for all low income users
Bengaluru, 2nd April 2020:Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s largest integrated telecommunications company announced special measures to assist low income group customers impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.
• Airtel has extended the pre-paid pack validity for over 80 million customers till April 17th, 2020. All these customers will continue to get incoming calls on their Airtel mobile numbers even after the validity of their plan is exhausted.
• Airtel will also credit an additional Rs 10 of talk time in the pre-paid accounts of all these 80 million customers to enable them to make calls or send SMS and therefore stay connected with their loved ones.
The program has been kicked off, and these benefits will be available to users in the next 48 hours.
These 80 million customers effectively cover all under-privileged households on the Airtel Network. These special measures will particularly benefit migrant workers and daily wage earners who may have been impacted due to the nationwide lockdown to combat COVID-19. All other customers on Airtel’s network are already recharging their accounts using online platforms.
With these initiatives all Airtel customers will have unrestricted access to vital information from local authorities as also be able to connect with whoever they choose to.
Airtel’s network teams continue to work 24X7 to ensure that India’s digital backbone operates seamlessly.
Shashwat Sharma, Chief Marketing Officer, Bharti Airtel said “In this difficult hour of fighting off the threat of Covid-19, Airtel is committed to ensuring that all people remain connected without any disruptions. And for this objective, it is critical to take care of the under-privileged daily wage earners of our country, whose lives have been disrupted due to the lock-down”.
The lockdown is absolutely essential, but essential services should not suffer. Isolation is the best thing we can do now. Let us look at it step-wise. First, we have to work on prevention. What are the maximum precautions a person can take? Other than isolation people talk of sanitisation. I accept that. If you are sanitising your hands why aren’t you sanitizing inside your nose and mouth and inside your lungs? In my personal opinion steam inhalation twice a day is advisable, it doesn’t cost anything, in addition to that gargling once a day with Listerine is also good since alcohol kills viruses.
Dear, Brother’s, Sisters’s, Friends & Relatives, Kindly Stay at Home to Save Your Precious life, Suffer Now & Enjoy Later. Staying at Home is the One and Only Option.
I Request One & all With Folded Hand To Stay at Home.
● Pre-approved credit of upto INR 3600 to be disbursed over 3 weeks; offered interest-free to drivers operating auto-rickshaws, cabs, kaali-peelis and taxis on the Ola platform
● Aims to impact over 100,000 families who are in need of liquidity for immediate household expenses
National, 1st April, 2020: Ola, India’s largest mobility platform, today announced the launch of ‘Sahyog’, an interest-free micro-credit, which will help driver-partners and their families get instant access to cash in their bank accounts. This unique offering is tailor-made for Ola driver-partners and will help address immediate liquidity needs of over 100,000 driver-partners and their families pan India. This move follows Ola’s multiple initiatives focused on the well-being and economic upliftment of the driver community, who have been one of the worst hit due to the Covid- 19 pandemic.
The loan will aim to supplant the incomes of hundreds of thousands of driver-partners who haven’t had a steady source of income due to the nationwide lockdown. All eligible driver-partners will be able to access loan amounts of up to INR 1200 per week, disbursed over the course of three weeks. Driver-partners can use the credit amount to pay for their planned household expenses or repayments. The credit shall be set off against earnings on the platform over a period upon return of normalcy in business. This micro-credit is available for all Ola driver-partners in India across all categories including Ola Auto, Ola Rentals and Outstation and will be distributed using the microfinance lending platform, Avail Finance.
Speaking on the initiative, Anand Subramanian, Spokesperson and Head of Communications, Ola, said, “The financial well-being of our driver-partners and their families in these challenging times is of prime importance to us. There is an immediate need for access to instant cash to pay for household expenses which they are unable to foot, given the loss of income due to the ongoing lockdown. ‘Sahyog’ enables them to access micro-credit instantly, in their registered bank accounts, allowing drivers and their families to tide through these difficult times with much needed liquidity. We are committed to doing everything we can to reduce the economic burden and safeguard the interests of our driver-partners and their families through these unprecedented times.”
Ankush Aggarwal, Founder & CEO of Avail Finance said, “We are very happy to extend the Avail platform to deliver the ‘Sahyog’ micro-credit solution to Ola driver-partners. Avail’s platform will help Ola identify eligible driver partners as well as to manage disbursement of credit in real-time. In these times of distress, an instant credit to meet immediate day to day expenses will go a long way in helping hundreds of thousands of families tide through this phase.”
Ola has launched a series of initiatives to enhance the well-being of driver-partners and their families. Last week, Ola launched the ‘Drive the Driver’ fund under the aegis of Ola Foundation, to support auto-rickshaw, cab, kaali-peeli and taxi drivers, through contributions from the Ola group, investors and a crowdfunding platform for citizens and other institutions. Earlier, Ola also waived off the lease rentals, akin to an EMI, for driver partners who operate vehicles owned by Ola’s subsidiary, Ola Fleet Technologies under its leasing program. As part of the ongoing efforts to help driver partners across the country, Ola recently shared that it would cover loss of income for driver-partners and their spouses in case they test positive for COVID-19. The company has also been providing free medical support for driver-partners and their family members through free doctor consultations.
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