Food delivery platform Swiggy announced on Thursday the expansion of its “Street Food Vendors” program to 125 cities under the prime minister’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 and Urban Affairs in the cities of Ahmedabad, Varanasi, Chennai, Delhi and Indore, where 300 street vendors were incorporated.
The Atmanirbhar Nidhi plan of PM SVANidhi or Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor, was launched on June 1, 2020 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to help street vendors, who were affected by the coronavirus pandemic, to resume their activities of subsistence. The plan aims to provide working capital loans of up to Rs 10,000 at a subsidized interest rate. The interest subsidy on the timely or early repayment of the loan is 7% and street vendors will be able to repay the loan in monthly installments in one year.
With the collaboration, Swiggy becomes the first food delivery platform to partner with the government. In a press release, it stated: “At the time of onboarding, all suppliers are registered with FSSAI. Swiggy will facilitate food safety training and certification in partnership with FSSAI and its breaded partners. ”
“By updating the app, customers in Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Indore and Varanasi can find ‘Street Vendor’ in the restaurant category. The app’s home page also has banners that take users directly to a variety of street vendor listings, ”he added.
Swiggy COO Vivek Sunder said the company was working to ensure home delivery of people’s favorite street food. “Even as we go through more stages of unlocking, there has been a long-term shift in consumer behavior regarding continued social distancing and increased demand for online services such as food delivery … We are delighted to bring them their favorite street food that has been missing for many months, ”he said.
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