Food delivery platform Swiggy on Thursday announced the expansion of its “Street Food Vendors” programme to 125 cities under the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s Atmanibhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme.
The expansion comes on the heels of a successful pilot launched by the delivery service in collaboration with the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs in the cities of Ahmedabad, Varanasi, Chennai, Delhi and Indore, where 300 street vendors were onboarded.
PM SVANidhi or Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor’s Atmanirbhar Nidhi scheme, was launched on June 1, 2020, by the ministry of housing and urban affairs to help street vendors, who were impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, resume their livelihood activities. The scheme aims to provide working capital loans up to Rs10,000 at a subsidised rate of interest. The interest subsidy on timely or early repayment of the loan is at 7% and street vendors will be allowed to repay the loan in monthly instalments in one year.
With the collaboration, Swiggy becomes the first food delivery platform to partner with the government. In a press release, it said, “At the time of onboarding, all vendors are registered with FSSAI. Swiggy will then facilitate a Food Safety Training and Certification in partnership with FSSAI and their empanelled partners.”
{{/usCountry}}With the collaboration, Swiggy becomes the first food delivery platform to partner with the government. In a press release, it said, “At the time of onboarding, all vendors are registered with FSSAI. Swiggy will then facilitate a Food Safety Training and Certification in partnership with FSSAI and their empanelled partners.”
{{/usCountry}}“By updating the app, customers in Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Indore and Varanasi can find ‘Street Vendor’ under the restaurant category. The app homepage also has banners that lead users directly to a range of street vendor listings,” it added.
Swiggy COO Vivek Sunder said the company was working to ensure doorstep delivery of people’s favourite street food. “Even as we go through more stages of unlock, there has been a long-term change in consumer behaviour regarding continued social distancing and heightened demand for online services, like food delivery...We’re delighted to bring them their favourite street food which they have been missing for many months now,” he said.