New Delhi: The total contribution from power and MNRE (Ministry of New and Renewable Energy) PSUs (public sector undertakings) towards PM CARES fund stands at Rs 925 crore, said Union Power Minister RK Singh. The news comes just days after the Indian steel sector pledged Rs 500 crore and the state-run oil PSUs contributed over Rs 1,000 crore towards the fund meant to assist the government in its fight against COVID 19 pandemic. While Rs 445 crore was deposited on March 31, the rest of the amount will come in over the first week of April, Singh said. The news was shared by the minister on Twitter. He wrote, "We feel honoured to share that the Public Sector Undertakings of the Ministries of Power & MNRE have decided to contribute INR 925Cr to the #PMCARES fund with 445Cr being deposited on 31st of March and remaining in the first week of April. Jai Hind."
Power PSUs PowerGrid and PFC (Power Finance Corporation) have contributed Rs 200 crore each to PM CARES fund from their CSR corpus. In addition to this, employees of both the PSUs have committed a portion of their salary to the relief fund. In a statement released on March 27, PowerGrid said, "As responsible corporate citizen, PowerGrid has contributed Rs 130 crore to Prime Minister's CARES fund. To help fight the COVID-19 pandemic, it has committed another contribution of Rs 70 crore in the next financial year. This makes PowerGrid's total contribution as 200 crore. PowerGrid's employees are also contributing a part of their salary towards the cause," the company said in a tweet on Monday.
PFC announced the news on its Twitter handle on March 31: "Standing in solidarity: PFC contributes Rs 200 crore under CSR to "PM CARES Fund" in fight against COVID-19. PFC's employees voluntarily contributed a day's salary to further strengthen the nation's fight against the dreaded disease." REC too pitched in with a monetary support of Rs 150 crore to the fund set up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In addition, employees have also pledged a day's salary to aid the government in its fight against COVID 19 pandemic. The rest of the amount has come from a number of other PSUs, including SJVN (Rs 5 crore) and NHPC Limited (Rs 50 crore). The other power PSUs are yet to declare the CSR funds contributed by them.
The two PSUs under the MNRE — IREDA (Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd) and SECI (Solar Energy Corporation of India) — have committed an amount of around 16 crore jointly towards PM CARES fund. Speaking to PSU Watch, a spokesperson for IREDA said that the company has decided to contribute Rs 15 crore from its CSR reserve. "While Rs 7.5 crore has been released already in FY2019-20, the remaining Rs 7.5 crore will be released shortly. In addition, employees are also deliberating on contributing a portion of their salaries to the government." SECI, on its part, has pledged a sum of Rs 1.17 crore on March 31, which is around 46 percent of its CSR budget. In addition to this, SECI's employees are contributing one day's salary to the PM CARES Fund for the same cause.