2nd COVID-19 wave witnessed huge spurt in online charity donations: Report
Mumbai: The ravaging second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic witnessed a huge spurt in donations through online fund-raiser campaigns, data collected by a payments solution provider said on Tuesday.
Compared with the months leading to the lockdown, there was a 731 per cent increase in the number of transactions, 2,308 per cent jump in expenditure, and 128 per cent increase in average ticket size in the lockdown 2.0, when it came to online donations to charitable causes, PayU said.
Compared to lockdown 1.0, the number of transactions and expenditures increased by 575 per cent and 476 per cent in lockdown 2.0, the data said.
It can be noted that the second set of lockdowns, limited ones announced by states and not a national one, started from mid-April onwards and continued till the end of May. In the intervening period, daily cases crossed over 4 lakh, reported fatalities came at over 4,500 and there were allegations of under-reporting, in what has been called one of the worst instances of suffering the country has seen in its history.
The report from PayU said as the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, numerous donation campaigns were organised by NGOs and crowdsourcing platforms to raise funds for COVID relief.
In lockdown 2.0, the logistics sector recorded a 217 per cent increase in the number of transactions and a 227 per cent increase in expenditure, compared to lockdown 1.0, the report said. Interestingly, the logistics sector also maintained a steady 59 per cent growth in the number of transactions and a 57 per cent increase in expenditure compared to the months before lockdown 2.0, it said.
This could be attributed to larger usage of courier delivery services and purchase and transfer of essential items during the May 2021 period, it said.
The entertainment sector suffered from the impact of the second wave of the pandemic, as there was a 35 per cent decline in the number of transactions, 41 per cent decrease in expenditure, and an 11 per cent decline in average ticket size in lockdown 2.0 when compared with the months leading to the lockdowns.
