BENGALURU:
Discounts on items ranging from fast food to flights are being offered by Indian firms keen to lure people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, as the economy re-opens gradually from weeks of lockdown.
While businesses in the West make similar offers to dispel vaccine hesitancy, India is badly short of doses for its population of nearly 1.4 billion, and the incentives could serve mainly to attract more customers.
"We feel it is our responsibility to contribute to the national vaccination drive by encouraging more people," Sanjay Kumar, a senior official of Interglobe Aviation, which runs India's biggest airline, IndiGo, said in a statement.
Vaccinated customers, even those who have received just one dose, would get a discount of up to 10%, the airline said on Wednesday.
The Indian arm of fast food giant McDonald's is offering a 20% discount on meals, SoftBank -backed grocer Grofers a month's subscription to its loyalty program, and home appliances maker Godrej extended product warranties.
State-run Central Bank of India Ltd is offering higher interest on deposits from recipients of at least one dose.
To claim the discounts, people must show their vaccination certificates issued by the government.
India's 291 million administered doses are the most after China and the United States, but only about 5.5% of its estimated adult population of 950 million has received both doses necessary for full protection against the virus.
Vaccine flow is only expected to improve from August.
The country has enough Covid vaccine supplies, with 200-220 million doses available from next month, said NK Arora, who heads the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation in India (NTAGI).
The aim is to vaccinate at least 10 million people every day, said Arora.
Meanwhile,a day after achieving a historic milestone of 88.09 lakh COVID-19 vaccinations, a significant dip was recorded in the inoculation numbers as only 54.24 lakh vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours, according to an updated data of the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday. A total of 29.46 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered under the 'Nationwide Vaccination Drive' so far.
As the new phase of universalisation of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from Monday, in a landmark achievement, 88.09 lakh vaccine doses were administered on the first day of the new phase beginning June 21. This is the highest single-day number of jabs in the world. Meanwhile, India reported 50,848 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours.
The cumulative recoveries reached 2,89,94,855, including 68,817 patients who were recovered in the last 24 hours. With this, the active caseload went down further to 6,43,194, the lowest in 82 days.
The recovery rate improved to 96.56 per cent while the weekly positivity rate is currently at 3.12 per cent.