Center partners with Swiggy to take street vendors online

Swiggy, one of the most popular food delivery apps in India is all set to deliver food from street vendors in five cities. The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry (MoHUA) has launched a new initiative as per the Prime Minister’s AtmaNibhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) to support street vendors to promote their products. The pilot project will start off in Chennai, Delhi, Varanasi, Indore and Ahmedabad cities with 250 street vendors who are going to be beneficiaries. If a success, it will be expanded to other parts of the country as well.

According to reports, MoHUA is working along with municipal corporations, GST officials, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and Swiggy to start the project at the earliest. Municipal commissioners of all the five cities have also been alerted.

Street vendors will be trained on how to use the app, helped with registrations, packaging and menu digitization. The target is to cover at least 50 lakh street vendors from across India who are undergoing crisis due to Covid pandemic.

Vendors can also avail a working capital loan of up to Rs 10,000. Till October 4, 2020, over 20 lakh loan applications have been received under the PM SVANidhi Scheme. 7.5 lakh loans have been sanctioned and over 2.4 lakh loans disbursed.

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