ABP News concludes second edition of 'India vs Corona e-Conclave'

ABP News of ABP Network concluded the second edition of its ‘India vs Corona e-Conclave’ which witnessed the participation of top business leaders and entrepreneurs of India, sharing their insights on special initiatives and innovative practices of corporate India amid the Covid-19 crisis.

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It’s been over a year since Covid-19 disrupted our society in myriad ways across the world. To combat the crisis, more and more corporates, entrepreneurs, and start-ups have come forward to assist the government, the frontline workers, and the common people during this difficult time. Their special efforts have shone a light on the human side of business.

In this vein, ABP News initiated this special conclave to understand the impact of Covid-19 on different sectors and communities. Through a series of conversations with the people who are leading the fight against Covid-19, this edition of India vs Corona e-Conclave looked at how businesses and industries are responding to the crisis, with compassion and innovation.

The knowledge-sharing platform saw a diverse line-up of business leaders such as Mohit Anand, (MD India and South Asia – Kellogg’s), Shashi Sinha (IPG Mediabrands), R. S. Sodhi, (MD, Amul), Amitabh Behar (CEO – Oxfam), Sandeep Chachra (Executive Director, Action Aid), Rajeev Chaba (President and Managing Director - MG Motors), Tarun Arora (CEO – Zydus Wellness), Rahul Verma (Founder - Uday Foundation), Geetika Patel (Medical Director and Tustee - Parul University), Yatin Gupte (Chairman and MD – Joy E-Bikes), and Sanjay Radhakrishnan (CEO – Hero Insurance Broking).

The conclave delved into various pertinent themes such as ‘The human face of Corporate India’, ‘Tackling Adversity with Innovation’ and ‘Leading a Helping Hand to Society’. The engrossing discussions at the conclave highlighted the changes made by Indian businesses to make workplaces more collaborative and empathetic. Other conversations revolved around how various businesses are putting humanity at par with, if not above, profitability.

Avinash Pandey

Avinash Pandey, CEO, ABP Network, said, “Corporate India has stepped up to mount a comprehensive and thoughtful community-based response to India’s fight against Covid-19. The aim of our special e-conclave was to bring top business leaders of India at a common platform to discuss the initiatives, challenges, and vision of Indian businesses in combating the pandemic. We hope that these illuminating discussions will inspire up-and-coming entrepreneurs to create companies that are not only successful and profitable but go beyond their call of duty to create a positive societal impact.”

Key highlights:

• Speaking about the company’s special care programme, Anand of Kellogg’s said, “When we started our Kellogg’s Care Program, we prioritised four aspects of health to ensure overall well-being of our employees — mental health, social health, physical health, and financial health. Safety and sanitation norms were extremely crucial at the beginning, so we brought global standards of safety and sanitisation to our factories. We leveraged technology for contact-tracing to help stop the spread.”
• Sinha of IPG Mediabrands shared the company’s strategy to keep the workers motivated amid the pandemic. “We have a people first policy at IPG Mediabrands. To ensure overall well-being of our employees, ensuring financial stability was paramount. We protected the jobs of all our employees and announced increments. We created a special ‘Covid fund’ for them. We also made a ‘Covid warrior’ team to provide assistance to those in urgent need.” 
• Speaking about the importance of health and well-being of the employees, Arora of Zydus Wellness said, “We made sure to provide safety kits and financial support to all our employees. We protected the job of every worker and ensured increments in the both the years to keep them motivated, as well as financially stable. We substantially increased insurance for our employees and provided additional support to those who were infected with Covid-19.”
• Sodhi of Amul shared his insights on advertising amid the pandemic, “Advertising is asset management, which is carried out with a long-term strategy in mind. At a time when people were stressed during lockdown, we wanted to assure them that Amul milk will be available to them at all times. We advertised at a time when other brands were withholding their spending. We received very cost-effective packages and went ahead with them. In fact, our advertising spend is 1% of our sales spend. We have always focused on spending less and still ensuring top-of-mind recall of our brand among our customers through quality content and effective campaigning.”

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