MAM
Cred enables users to redeem their points to donate Oxygen
MUMBAI: As India struggles to keep up with the growing demands for oxygen and healthcare amid the second Covid wave in the country, several start-ups and corporates have pitched in to aid the efforts. Kunal Shah-led Credit payment platform Cred too has come up with one such initiative. The fintech announced Monday that it will allow its app users to donate their Cred coins to help send oxygen for those in need. The start-up stated that it has partnered with Milaap, India’s leading healthcare fundraising platform for the cause.
It may be noted that Cred coins are points earned as reward by its users for paying their credit card bills on time. Each of these coins represent every rupee in credit card bills that the customers pay using the app. Trading in 10,000 Cred coins lets you donate 1,000 litres of oxygen, 25,000 Cred coins gets 2,500 litres of oxygen, and so on. Cred says that for every donation made by users, Milaap will channel the funds raised to their partners, and will buy as well as deploy oxygen concentrators for hospitals and healthcare non-profits across India.
The payment app announced the initiative on its social media platforms :
Redeem your CRED coins to donate oxygen: https://t.co/a3vw582qLX
Campaign in association with @milaapdotorg pic.twitter.com/xy9RoLmG0b
— CRED (@CRED_club) April 26, 2021
Update: CRED members can now donate CRED coins towards buying oxygen concentrators for hospitals, healthcare orgs across India. With a goal of 1 billion litres, we’ve partnered with Milaap to ensure contributions reach hospitals in need.
— Kunal Shah (@kunalb11) April 26, 2021
Cred founder Kunal Shah shared, “We have seen how mobilisation of ordinary people, their time, resources, and energy has created change and action.”
He went on to add, “You can also help by sharing ideas on streamlining oxygen supplies on oxygen@cred.club. The Cred Oxygen Fund will consider all ideas, evaluate and provide support needed.”
Update: CRED members can now donate CRED coins towards buying oxygen concentrators for hospitals, healthcare orgs across India. With a goal of 1 billion litres, we’ve partnered with Milaap to ensure contributions reach hospitals in need.
— Kunal Shah (@kunalb11) April 26, 2021
Shah shared his donation certificate from Milaap, post donating CRED points:
The gesture won lots of appreciation and plaudits, with many welcoming such an initiative when the country really needed it. Many users tweeted they would willingly and happily give up their CRED coins, for such a noble cause, with some even adding tongue-in-cheek that they “anyways did not have much use for them”.
The news was received with some scepticism too.
How are you guys planning to do this? How many oxygen concentrator machines do y’all plan to donate in order to achieve 1 billion ltrs of oxygen?? @cred @milaapdotorg @kunalb11 pic.twitter.com/B12s9JgP2y
— Ashish (@ashishunplugged) April 26, 2021
Update: CRED members can now donate CRED coins towards buying oxygen concentrators for hospitals, healthcare orgs across India. With a goal of 1 billion litres, we’ve partnered with Milaap to ensure contributions reach hospitals in need.
— Kunal Shah (@kunalb11) April 26, 2021
Some called it “Undoubtedly the best use of cred coins”!
Redeem your CRED coins to donate oxygen: https://t.co/a3vw582qLX
Campaign in association with @milaapdotorg pic.twitter.com/xy9RoLmG0b
— CRED (@CRED_club) April 26, 2021
Many Twitterati felt the exercise should be more transparent to build trust and confidence in it:
Update: CRED members can now donate CRED coins towards buying oxygen concentrators for hospitals, healthcare orgs across India. With a goal of 1 billion litres, we’ve partnered with Milaap to ensure contributions reach hospitals in need.
— Kunal Shah (@kunalb11) April 26, 2021
Update: CRED members can now donate CRED coins towards buying oxygen concentrators for hospitals, healthcare orgs across India. With a goal of 1 billion litres, we’ve partnered with Milaap to ensure contributions reach hospitals in need.
— Kunal Shah (@kunalb11) April 26, 2021
Several sought to know how the scheme works: “How are the cred points acting as a currency to purchase/donate oxygen concentrators (esp when they are in such short supply) and if the cred points are able to purchase it, why aren’t they available via INR in different points of sales.”
Another netizen pointed out : “Sir- With all due respect- we have an availability problem. Please urge all your customers to donate plasma if they have survived the infection.”
While quite a few wondered how Cred would implement this cause, considering that there’s oxygen shortage, many netizens termed it a marketing gimmick to increase engagement on the app.
One netizen even criticised the action saying, “If free coins can buy oxygen, please generate as many as you can, and buy the damn oxygen. Why ask people to donate theirs?”
Others tweeted :
Yes exactly! Nobody in the comments thought they should ask how this works. Shame how gullible we Indians can be at times.
— Ritik Verma (@iamritik) April 26, 2021
Exactly while @kunalb11 profiteers during the pandemic by increasing engagement on his app.
Happy to be out argued on this one, but this is how it appears.
— highker_ani (@highker_ani) April 26, 2021
Some users hoped that there would be a report published at the end of this on how effective these contributions are and what difference it has made, while a few canny netizens pointed out: “Off late, many marketing campaigns are only created to create traction with users but no significant impact.”
Well, for all the sceptics and for those who are worried that this will be just another fund which has no transparency, the company has put out a notification. The firm says that starting 3 May, there will be daily updates published in the Cred app giving you the status of exactly how the oxygen concentrator deployment is happening across India.
Meanwhile, Milaap co-founder Anoj Viswananthan took to Twitter to share an update on the initiative: “UPDATE: We are incredibly grateful for the tremendous support shown by the CRED community @CRED_club towards @milaapdotorg initiative for oxygen concentrators in the last 24 hours.”
You can read the complete update here:
UPDATE: We are incredibly grateful for the tremendous support shown by the CRED community @CRED_club towards @milaapdotorg initiative for oxygen concentrators in the last 24 hours. (1/n)
— Anoj Viswanathan (@anojviswanathan) April 27, 2021
Brands
Muthoot FinCorp names Arun Kumar COO & Harjit Singh Takkar chief distribution officer
Leadership hires to boost operations and widen pan-India reach
THIRUVANANTHPURAM: Muthoot FinCorp has strengthened its top deck with the appointment of Arun Kumar B as chief operating officer and Harjit Singh Takkar as chief distribution officer, sharpening its focus on scale, speed and service as it pushes into its next phase of growth.
The flagship financial services arm of the 138-year-old Muthoot Pappachan Group, popularly known as Muthoot Blue, is expanding both muscle and mindset. With more than 3,750 branches nationwide and its digital platform, the Muthoot FinCorp ONE app, the company is betting on tighter execution and wider reach to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive lending market.
Arun Kumar B steps in with nearly two decades of experience cutting across financial services, technology transformation and customer analytics. He previously worked with CreditAccess Grameen, where he led enterprise-wide technology and data strategy initiatives and played a pivotal role during a major merger in the microfinance space. His work spanned integrating operations and products while scaling lending and non-credit offerings such as insurance and pensions.
At Muthoot FinCorp, Arun will steer operational excellence and strategic growth initiatives, aligning teams and processes to deliver sharper efficiency across the business. A gold medallist from Anna University and a postgraduate from IIM Indore, he also holds certifications in design thinking, Blue Ocean Strategy and business analytics.
Harjit Singh Takkar takes on the newly created role of chief distribution officer, reporting directly to the chief executive officer. The position is designed to energise the company’s distribution engine and bring greater governance and agility across its branch network.
Takkar brings over 28 years of retail banking experience, having held senior leadership roles at IndusInd Bank, Bandhan Bank, Yes Bank and ICICI Bank. Known for scaling branch networks and building high-performing teams, he combines distribution expertise with governance depth as a qualified company secretary with a master’s degree in finance and control.
In his new role, Takkar will oversee branch business and distribution channels, with a clear brief to expand reach, lift productivity and reinforce the company’s pan-India presence.
Commenting on the appointments, Muthoot FinCorp Ltd. chief executive officer Shaji Varghese, said the company continues to invest in leadership as it scales. “Our purpose is to improve the financial well-being of the common man. As we grow, strengthening leadership across key functions is important to ensure consistency in execution and customer experience,” he said.
With complementary strengths in operations and distribution now in place, Muthoot FinCorp appears set to move from steady expansion to sharper acceleration, backed by people, process and technology working in concert.
