Covid-19: Marico announces Rs 2.5 cr prize for innovative healthcare solution

Industrialist Harsh Mariwala on Monday said he is spearheading a Rs 2.5 crore effort to find solutions to limit the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.  Mariwala, along with two non-profits, has set up the corpus to find solutions for fighting the spread of the virus within the next one month. Marico Innovation Foundation has invited med-tech entrepreneurs, corporates and innovators to solve the med-tech challenges faced in the wake of on-going COVID-19 crisis with a prize of Rs 2.5 crore, FMCG firm Marico said in a statement earlier in the day.

"We will look for solutions that can be scaled up fast to cover a large section of population, are affordable and can be quickly implemented given that we are already in the middle of things," Mariwala told PTI. The solutions can be in manufacturing ventilators, personal protective equipment, masks etc, he added.

The firm has invited entries for Innovate2BeatCOVID to find solutions for healthcare challenges. "Marico Innovation Foundation is inviting med-tech entrepreneurs, corporates and innovators - in fact, any person - who can who can provide innovative solutions for two of the direst needs today in the country, namely low-cost ventilators / respiratory solutions and Personal Protective Equipment.

"I too, am making a pledge in my personal capacity, making the total grant value to Rs 2.50 crores," Mariwala said. A team of evaluators has been formed which will be looking at the proposals and choosing the ones to get the grant.

It can be noted that a slew of industry people have started donating sums to various corpuses for COVID-19. Mariwala said when it comes to the philosophy of giving, he does not believe in pure financial or monetary help and would like to tie it up to a goal.

The industry veteran, who heads consumer company Marico, said it is too early to assess the impact or predict the future trajectory of consumption in the country and stressed that a spurt in the first week of the lockdown can be attributed to panic buying. He said even though much of the goods his company makes are classified as essentials, there is a difficulty in achieving higher capacity utilisations because of shortage of staff and possible difficulties in distributions.

Mariwala was quick to add that things are improving on both factory output and distribution. The number of COVID-19 cases climbed to 1,071 in India on Monday, while the death toll rose to 29, according to the Union Health Ministry. Sevral corporate houses, including Tata, ITC, and HUL, have announced grant to tackle the pandamic of Covid-19. As the pandemic progresses, the grand challenge may expand to other items of critical need, Mariwala said.