COVID support: JP Morgan earmarks $3.8M for India staff; offers $10M more in phases

Global investment banking major JP Morgan Chase has increased its COVID-19 support to the country manifold, taking the total planned aid to close to $ 16 million, of which $ 3.8 million is for supporting its over 35,000 employees in India.

The head of the Wall Street major, Jamie Dimon, had on April 30 committed an upfront $ 2 million financial aid along with an appeal to its over 2.5 lakh employees globally to chip in which would be matched by an equal amount by the company.

In an internal communication on Thursday, which PTI has seen, Filippo Gori, the chief executive of JP Morgan Asia Pacific, said the bank has set aside $ 3.8 million for the care of its over 35,000 India employees, and an additional $ 10 million is being earmarked in phases to support the needy in their pandemic recovery phase.

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We've committed an additional $ 3.8 million to support our colleagues in India in their fight against the virus in 2021. This money will be used for medical insurance, 24x7 ambulance service, partnerships with our clinical service providers and hospitals for hotel and in-home quarantine, doctor-on-call service; and vaccination reimbursement support, Gori said in the mail.

The bank is also working towards increasing access to vaccines, subject to availability and government regulations, he added.

This is excluding the already-committed $ 2 million in immediate India-wide coronavirus relief efforts such as providing support to the public health system to improve the capacity of small hospitals, enabling them to provide treatment for greater numbers of affected patients and also providing food and essential items to low-income communities.

Besides this, the bank has also committed an additional $ 10 million to help the larger already-disadvantaged communities tide over the long-term consequences of the pandemic often those.

This is part of JP Morgan's annual $ 32 million philanthropic commitment to building economic resiliencies for these communities, Gori said.

This community support and outreach will include support to microbusinesses, particularly those owned by women; helping youth pursue promising careers; and help support inclusive fintech solutions for the post-crisis environment ensuring access to financial tools that will help them weather any future crisis, he said.

JP Morgan is also a member of the recently-announced global taskforce on the pandemic response, a public-private partnership providing 1,000 ventilators and a further 25,000 oxygen concentrators to India.

Gori said so far, their employees have contributed $ 1.5 lakh towards India aid, and the company will equally match that number.

In an email to all the employees on April 30, Dimon committed $ 2 million to Indian non-profits which are in the forefront of the pandemic fight, along with an appeal to its employees to donate with an additional commitment to match their contributions with an equal amount by the company.

The total aid, including medical supplies and medical equipments, from the US is reportedly nearing $ 500 million.