Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat has decided to contribute Rs 6 lakh to the PM CARES fund for COVID-19 over a period of one year with a monthly contribution of Rs 50,000, officials said on Sunday.

Gen Rawat has already started making the contribution from April and will continue it till March next year, they said.

"The monthly contribution is 20 per cent of his total salary. In total, he will donate Rs 6 lakh to the PM-CARES fund," a military official said.

Gen Rawat, India's first Chief of Defence Staff, had donated one day's salary to the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES) in March as part of a collective decision by the Defence Ministry and three services.

In March, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced setting up of the PM CARES fund to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

Political leaders, corporates, defence personnel, employees of Railways and PSUs, and Bollywood personalities were among a cross-section of organisations and people making their contribution to the fund.

Earlier this month, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved a proposal providing for voluntary monthly contribution of one day's salary for next 11 months to the PM CARES fund for COVID-19 by nearly 1.5 million-strong armed forces and all other employees of the Defence Ministry.

The total estimated contribution would be around Rs 5,500 crore if a majority of the armed forces personnel and the employees of the ministry including from the defence public sector undertakings decide to go for it.

According to an official note, the contribution to the PM CARES fund will start from May and will continue till March 2021.

The defence minister as well as all senior officials of the ministry and three services are making their contributing to the fund.