Swiggy takes Modi’s street vendors scheme for delivery; partners to bring 36,000 food sellers online

Ease of Doing Business: Food delivery startup Swiggy has jumped in to carry forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unprecedented street vendors’ scheme PM SVANidhi, launched to support street vendors revive the business hit by coronavirus. Swiggy has partnered with the government to bring over 36,000 street food vendors to its online platform. The company said that it will onboard street food vendors from over 125 cities in Phase 1.

Swiggy will list street vendors from Tier-2 & Tier-3 cities such as Indore, Varanasi, Gwalior, Vadodara, Visakhapatnam, Udaipur, Lucknow, and Bhilai that are famous for their street food. Through a pilot project in the cities of Ahmedabad, Varanasi, Chennai, Delhi, and Indore, Swiggy has already onboarded over 300 street vendors on its platform.

The food delivery giant has created a separate space on the app where consumers can find their preferred street food vendors. It has assured to facilitate food safety training and certification in partnership with FSSAI and their empanelled partners. “Street vendors are integral to the food culture in India and we thank the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for giving Swiggy the opportunity to do our bit to help them adapt to the ‘new normal’ and embrace and thrive in the digital economy,” said Vivek Sunder, COO, Swiggy.

The SVANidhi Scheme has received around 1.47 lakh loan applications from street food vendors so far, out of these, Swiggy will onboard 36,000 vendors to whom the loan has been disbursed in 125 cities. The company claims that the drive will be the largest of its kind globally.

The coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent nationwide lockdown had left the street vendors in despair. Recognising the need to support the street vendors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had launched the PM SVANidhi scheme. It was for the first time that the government had launched a scheme for the street vendors. The scheme provided an instant loan of up to Rs 10,000 to street vendors, which was aimed at supporting them to resume their businesses as the economy opened.