Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situation (PM CARES)

The Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situation (PM CARES) Fund was established keeping in mind the necessity for having a dedicated fund in the country with its primary objective being to deal with any distress situation or emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is set up to provide relief to the public affected by the emergency or distress situation in the country. PM CARES was registered as a public charitable trust on 27 March 2020 under the Registration Act, 1908. Know more on PM Cares Fund Details.

Objectives Of The PM CARES Fund

• To support and undertake assistance or relief of any kind relating to calamity or distress, public health or any other kind of emergency, either natural or man-made.
• The relief under the fund includes the upgradation or creation of pharmaceutical or healthcare facilities, funding relevant research, other necessary infrastructure or any other type of support.
• To provide grants of money, render financial assistance or take such other steps towards the affected population deemed necessary by the Board of Trustees of the fund.
• To undertake any other such activity that is not inconsistent with the objectives mentioned above.

Constitution Of The PM CARES Fund

The Prime Minister (PM) of India is the ex-officio Chairman of the PM CARES Fund. The Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Defence, Minister of Finance, Government of India are ex-officio Trustees of the Fund.

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees, i.e. the PM, has the power to nominate three trustees to the Board of Trustees. They must be eminent persons in the field of research, science, health, social work, public administration, law and philanthropy.

Payment Modes Via Which Donations can be Made To PM CARES Trust

The PM CARES Fund accepts voluntary contributions made by organisations or individuals and contributions as part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) from the Companies or Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). However, the contributions arising out of the budgetary sources of the PSUs are not accepted. The contributions to the PM CARES Funds can be made by following modes:

• Net banking (through SBI Net Banking and other commercial Banks).
• Card payments (SBI ATM-cum-Debit Card, Credit Card, Other Bank Debit Cards, Foreign Card or Prepaid Card).
• Other payment modes such as SBI Branch, RTGS/NEFT.
• Contributions can be made online on the PM CARES Fund’s dedicated portal and the PMO portal.
• Contributions can also be made on the portals of the collection banks.
• Contributions can be made by drawing a cheque, or demand draft in favour of ‘PM CARES Fund’ and send to ‘Under Secretary (Funds), PMO, South Block, New Delhi, Pin -110011’ along with Name, Mobile no., Address and E-mail ID of the donor.

Benefits of Making a Donation To PM CARES

The PM Cares fund consists entirely of voluntary contributions from organisations or individuals, and it does not receive any budgetary support. It is a charitable fund where the people contribute to support and provide assistance for the people’s welfare in distress or emergencies. The contributions are utilised only for the objectives mentioned above.

The donations to PM CARES Fund qualify for 80G benefits provided under the Income Tax Act, 1961 for 100% exemption. They also qualify to be counted as CSR expenditure under the Companies Act, 2013.

The donation made to PM CARES Fund has got exemption under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 and a separate account for receiving the foreign donations is opened. Thus, the PM CARES Fund can accept contributions and donations from organisations and individuals based in foreign countries. During the year 2019-20, i.e. from 27 to 31 March 2020, an amount of Rs.3076.62 crore was collected under PM CARES Fund.