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

It’s been over a year since COVID-19 tightened its grip over the world and disrupted our society in myriad ways. To combat this 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, a company statement said.

The knowledge-sharing platform saw a diverse line-up of business leaders such as  Mohit Anand, (MD India & 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), Dr. Geetika Patel (Medical Director and Trustee – Parul University), Yatin Gupte (Chairman and MD – Joy E-Bikes), and Sanjay Radhakrishnan (CEO – Hero Insurance Broking).

Furthermore, 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, the statement elaborated.

Speaking about the conclave, 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.”

Some of the key highlights of the conclave included the following:

• Speaking about the company’s special care program, Mohit Anand (MD India & South Asia, Kellogg’s) said, “When we started our Kellogg’s Care Program, we prioritized 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 sanitization to our factories. We leveraged technology for contact-tracing, to help stop the spread.”
• While speaking at the conclave, Mr. Shashi Sinha (CEO, IPG Mediabrands) shared the company’s strategy to keep the workers motivated amidst 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 therefore protected the jobs of all our employees and also announced increments. We created a special ‘Covid fund’ for them. Further, we also made a ‘Covid warrior’ team to provide assistance to those in urgent need,” he said.
• Speaking about the importance of health and well-being of the employees, Tarun Arora (CEO, 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.”
• On the other hand,  R. S. Sodhi (MD, Amul) shared his insights on advertising amidst 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 amongst our customers through quality content and effective campaigning.”