Drivers on Uber India began receiving grants from the company’s fund to support drivers due to lack of business during the lockdown. On Wednesday, Uber India said that it disbursed grants to 55,000 drivers.
Uber’s fund, the Uber Care Driver Fund, was set up with a commitment of Rs 25 crore. The company said that more than 23,000 employees and riders contributed Rs 2.15 crore, and NGO’s and corporations donated Rs 4.18 crore.
“The Uber team has spoken to many drivers, and we know they greatly appreciate the generosity of all those who have helped in their hour of need. Over the coming few days, we will continue to report fresh contributions and disbursements from the Uber Care Driver Fund,” said Pavan Vaish, Head of Central Operations, Uber India and South Asia.
The aim is to generate Rs 50 crore to benefit the driver-partners through employees, riders, CSR funds and citizens through a partnership with crowdfunding organisation Milaap.
"We are continuing to disburse and we will reach close to Rs 20 crore by the end of this week," Pavan Vaish told IANS.
"Over the coming few days, we will continue to report fresh contributions and disbursements from the Uber Care Driver Fund," he added.
The fund says the grants will be directly transferred into the accounts of driver partners. It has been created in partnership with Give India and Samhita.
Uber first announced in the beginning of April that it began receiving the first batch of grants from Rs 25 crore deposited by Uber into the Uber Care Driver Fund.
Apart from this, Uber also recently launched UberMedic service for transporting frontline healthcare workers helping contain the spread of COVID-19 is across ten Indian cities: New Delhi, Noida, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Patna.