In the fight against COVID-19, around 2,56,000 employees of the country's largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), have decided to contribute two days' salary to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund. With this collective effort of SBI employees, Rs 100 crore will be donated to the PM CARES Fund which is created to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Last week, SBI had committed 0.25% of annual profit for FY 2019-20 as a part of its CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities to fight COVID-19.

Rajnish Kumar, Chairman, SBI said: "It is a matter of pride for State Bank of India that all our employees voluntarily came forward to pledge their two days' salary to the PM CARES Fund. This is the time where we all need to combat this battle of Covid-19 outbreak with united efforts. We at SBI would keep continuing our support the government in all its endeavours to address the challenges of this pandemic.”

At this time of crisis, SBI is committed to provide best possible banking services to its customers in the country and simultaneously striving to help citizens of India in fighting with the spread of COVID-19, the company said in a statement. 

Earlier, Kotak Mahindra Bank and its CEO Uday Kotak together committed a total of Rs 50 crore to the PM-CARES Fund for the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

In a tweet on Sunday, the bank said: "Kotak Mahindra Bank & Mr. Uday Kotak personally, commit immediate support of Rs 50cr to PM-CARES (Rs 25cr each).”

The 'Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund' (PM- CARES Fund)' is a public charitable trust with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation, like posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to provide relief to the affected.

With IANS inputs