Google has announced ₹135 crore in new funding for India to help get urgent medical supplies, including oxygen and testing equipment. This includes ₹112 crore in Ad Grants to local health authorities and non-profits for more language coverage options.
“Devastated to see the worsening Covid crisis in India. Google & Googlers are providing ₹135 crore in funding to @GiveIndia, @UNICEF for medical supplies, orgs supporting high-risk communities, and grants to help spread critical information,” Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet tweeted.
“Right now India is going through our most difficult moment in the pandemic thus far. Daily Covid-19 cases continue to set record highs, with hospitals filled to capacity and in need of urgent supplies to cope with the increasing number of patients. Our Google community and their families are feeling the devastating impact, too. We’re asking ourselves what more we can do as a company to ensure people get the information and support they need to keep their families and communities healthy and safe,” Google said in a post.
The funding includes two grants from Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm, totalling ₹20 crore. The first is to GiveIndia to provide cash assistance to families hit hardest by the crisis to help with their everyday expenses. The second will go to UNICEF to help get urgent medical supplies, including oxygen and testing equipment, to where it’s needed most in India. It also includes donations from our ongoing employee giving campaign — so far more than 900 Googlers have contributed ₹3.7 crore for organisations supporting high-risk and marginalised communities.
This funding also includes increased Ad Grant support for public health information campaigns. “Since last year, we’ve helped MyGov and the World Health Organization reach audiences with messages focused on how to stay safe and facts about vaccines. We’re increasing our support today with an additional ₹112 crore in Ad Grants to local health authorities and non-profits for more language coverage options,” it added.