Uber today announced a donation of INR 86 Lacs to GiveIndia, India’s largest giving platform for supporting families who’ve lost sole income earners to Covid-19 with a one-time cash grant of INR 30,000 to help overcome financial distress. 

Uber’s support was raised through global employee contributions of INR 49 lacs shortly after India was overcome by a deadly second wave of the pandemic. Uber matched these contributions by adding another INR 37 lacs for a total of INR 86 lacs.

With its network of NGO partners, GiveIndia will identify families who’ve lost sole income earners during the second wave of the pandemic and disburse funds through direct cash transfers to the bereaved families. The donation from Uber will help thousands of families meet their most urgent and essential needs, including education expenses for children, thereby helping restore and rebuild lives. 

Commenting on the announcement, Prabhjeet Singh, President, Uber India, and South Asia, said, “At Uber, we believe charity begins at home and I want to thank each and every employee who donated to the cause for supporting India’s fight against the devastating second wave. Every COVID-related death is a tragedy and we know rebuilding will be a long and painful experience for surviving family members. We hope our donation to GiveIndia will provide a lifeline to these most vulnerable families at a time when they need our support the most. Going forward, Uber will continue to mobilize our network and resources in support of our communities and to help India build back better.” 

GiveIndia CEO Atul Satija said, “This pandemic has caused human tragedy and loss on an epic scale – one that no one government or organisation can address. It needs collective compassion and action – the kind that Uber has taken. We are very grateful to Uber and its employees for coming together and making this generous contribution to ease the financial distress caused to families who have lost their breadwinner to Covid. It will impact thousands of lives in underserved communities.”

In April 2021, GiveIndia set up its India COVID Response Fund – 2 to help mobilize resources for emergency relief to support India’s overwhelmed healthcare infrastructure and provide humanitarian support in the form of food and cash to the most vulnerable families hit by the pandemic.

As part of its larger commitment to help communities recover from the second wave of COVID, Uber recently announced an INR 3.65 crores free rides package for supporting NGOs involved in emergency COVID relief efforts such as facilitating transportation of oxygen cylinders, concentrators, ventilators and other critical medical equipment.