Bangalore: Small and Medium Businesses (SMB) across India have been financially impacted due to the nationwide lockdown in these unprecedented times. In an effort to enable the SMBs in logistics that are heavily reliant on the company, Amazon India has introduced a Partner Support Fund.
This Partner Support Fund for small and medium businesses in logistics will be available to Delivery Service Partners (DSP) and select Transportation partners in India to help adjust their business model to the new realities posed during the lockdown. Through the one-time disbursement, the fund will support the partners in multiple ways. This includes enabling them to provide financial aid to close to 40,000 of their staff for the month of April’20. Additionally it will help cover some critical fixed infrastructure costs, and support liquidity and cash flow for these businesses as they resume and scale their operations post lockdown.
Akhil Saxena, VP, Customer Fulfilment Operations, APAC, MENA & LATAM, Amazon, said, “Amazon is committed to keeping India safe by delivering essentials to customers at their doorstep. We are equally invested in helping our partners overcome the unforeseen disruption in business. This one-time special Partner Support Fund is designed to enable partners to assist close to 40,000 of their associates through financial hardships, and will help our small business partners in logistics get back on their feet at the earliest when the economy reopens. Our commitment to partners and to India is for the long-term, and this fund, in addition to other measures, aims to support SMBs overcome the situation with relative ease.”
The special Amazon Partner Support Fund follows the recent announcement of the global USD 25 million Amazon Relief Fund (ARF) in India. ARF can be utilized by qualifying individuals who have been quarantined or diagnosed with COVID-19. Amazon India has extended the Amazon Relief Fund to eligible delivery associates who are part of the Delivery Service Partner Program, Amazon Flex program and its trucking partners providing transportation support.
Amazon is committed to the health and safety of its associates, delivery service partners, drivers, employees, and customers, and has implemented a number of preventive measures. Amazon India has begun temperature checks in buildings, has increased the frequency and intensity of cleaning at all sites, ,adjusted practices so that teams can adhere to social distancing whether at site or while even making deliveries to customers. All associates are also required to wear re-usable face covering through departure of their shifts at our sites, and also when they are out on the road making deliveries.
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