ICMIF member Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) announced that it has donated INR 25 Crores (USD 3.2 million) to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund). The fund will be used for combating, containment and relief efforts against the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the Chairman of the trust
IFFCO is one of India’s biggest cooperative society and is wholly owned by an amalgamation of over 36,000 Indian cooperatives, with diversified business interests ranging from general insurance to rural telecom apart from our core business of manufacturing and selling fertilisers.
Dr U S Awasthi, Managing Director and CEO of IFFCO, announced the donation on his Twitter page: “I humbly announce the contribution of ₹25 Crores on behalf of #IFFCO to #PMCARES Fund to fight against #COVID19 & support all relief work for #IndiaFightsCorona”.
The Indian Prime Minister Modi thanked IFFCO by retweeting Dr Awasthi’s Tweet and wrote: “Great gesture. Thank you to IFFCO. #IndiaFightsCorona”
IFFCO is also contributing at the local level to communities in rural areas of India, through distributing masks, hand sanitisers, disinfectant soaps, Vitamin C tablets and essential food kits to the farmers and villagers at various places across the country. As well as the donation to the PM CARES Fund, IFFCO is also making on the ground donation drives in villages across India.
Fellow Indian ICMIF member IFFCO Tokio General Insurance Company, a majority-owned subsidiary of IFFCO, has also responded to the COVID-19 crisis. The non-life insurer has announced some measures to ensure smooth claim settlement for its policyholders under health insurance and travel insurance categories,
In an article on the Indian National Herald website it was reported that all IFFCO Tokio General Insurance Company’s health insurance policies cover the medical expenses incurred from hospitalisation for Coronavirus and that currently IFFCO-Tokio’s Health Insurance policies do not exclude epidemics and pandemics.
IFFCO Tokio General Insurance is not imposing any restrictions on its health policies but says it will continue to monitor the situation closely.
It was also noted in the article that existing travel policyholders are covered for OPD (Outpatient Department) and hospitalisation costs when abroad should they get infected while travelling and need to receive treatment for the coronavirus during their trip.
