New Delhi, Oct 14 (KNN) To support businesses that are struggling to stay open and resume operations while grappling with new norms of safety and health protection, Mastercard and CAIT have partnered with Indian NGO ACCESS to launch the ‘Small Business Support Coalition’.

The Coalition will work towards educating small merchants and kirana store owners on government approved protocols for improved safety and hygiene, and will also provide them with the necessary tools and services to put them in practice.

To mark the launch, the Coalition will distribute 35,000 health protections kits in some of Delhi’s busiest markets including Sadar Bazar, Chandni Chowk and Karol Bagh.

An inaugural health protection kit was also presented to Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Hon’ble Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare and Hardeep Singh Puri, Hon’ble Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs at their office/residence.

Hardeep Singh Puri, Hon’ble Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs said, “At this point of our fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, awareness about adhering to social distancing norms and following safety protocols is crucial to support small businesses.”

He congratulated both Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) & Mastercard on initiating this project to enable small merchants cope with safety and health norms as they resume business. He also encouraged more entities to come forward to support the merchant community as they adapt to the new normal.

Mastercard is working with ACCESS Development Services to procure health protection kits from women Self Help Groups (SHGs) across rural India. Women across three SHGs in Jaipur and Hamirpur were engaged for the first batch.

Each kit includes two face masks, plastic gloves, alcohol hand sanitizer, disinfectant, a spray bottle, and educational material on COVID-19 safety protocols. ACCESS will distribute the kits to merchants.

Through the months of extended lockdown, the merchant community was at the forefront of India’s fight against COVID-19, maintaining a delicate balance between social distancing and their commitment to society. Mastercard’s aim is to enable these merchants with the tools they need to keep their doors open and continue to grow.

Praveen Khandelwal, National Secretary General for CAIT said, “Reopening of small merchants’ business has brought them relief and much-needed hope to survive in a post-COVID world. We are inspired to be a part of the Small Business Support Coalition to provide immediate and substantive measures that will help small merchants.”

Porush Singh, Division President, South Asia, Mastercard said, “The Small Business Support Coalition is a vital step towards enabling small merchants and our neighbourhood stores to resume operations and stay open for business in the coming months. By joining forces with different stakeholders – members of the industry, government, customers and SME associations – Mastercard believes that this collective work will help our communities to emerge even stronger from this crisis.”

Recently, Mastercard also announced a commitment of Rs 250 crores (US$33 million) to help reboot Indian SMEs and enable business recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic.