As a part of Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (SVANidhi) Scheme, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has joined hands with Swiggy, the leading online food ordering and delivering platform, to onboard street food vendors on its e-commerce platform, giving them an already established online access to thousands of people.
The initiative has been launched in five cities including Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Indore, and Varanasi and Swiggy will help street vendors in these states in taking their business online.
Ministry officials have informed that MoU was exchanged by Joint Secretary Sanjay Kumar and Swiggy chief financial officer Rahul Bothra through a webinar in the presence of Union Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra.
Along with them Municipal Commissioners of Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Indore, and Varanasi were also present in the ceremony through video conference.
In the beginning, the Housing and Urban Affairs ministry and Swiggy will run a pilot program by on-boarding 250 vendors. The street vendors will be helped with PAN and FSSAI registration, menu digitization, pricing, and several other things.
As COVID-19 has hit the business of street vendors, this partnership is seen as yet another kind initiative and will help the street vendors to facilitate and empower their business again. They will get access to popular platforms and can have greater income opportunities.
Under the PM SVANidhi Scheme, street vendors can avail of a working capital loan of up to ₹ 10,000, which is repayable in monthly instalments within one year. This working capital loan will be affordable and help the street vendors in resuming their livelihoods that have been disrupted by the pandemic and lockdown situation.
This scheme targets to provide benefits to over 50 lakh street vendors who had been vending on or before March 24, 2020.
