The nation had to enforce lock down in 2020 due to the Pandemic and during that time period just like every other industry the food industry also had to take the toll. Restaurants, Hotels, Bakeries, Cafes, and even street food vendors were greatly affected. Swiggy, An Online food delivery platform announced the expansion of its Street Food Vendors Programme which will be beneficial for 36,000 people in 125 tier 2 and 3 cities in the first phase. On Dec 10, 2020, Swiggy had tweeted on their official Twitter page stating that they are now delivering Street food in Delhi NCR, Indore, Varanasi, Ahmadabad, Chennai and will be coming to more cities soon.
Swiggy struck a deal with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs’ (MoHUA) Prime Minister Street Vendor’s Atma Nibhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme, Swiggy has created a team to explore and identify India’s top street food destinations and popular street vendors to provide working capital loans to them and introducing them to the world of online ordering while holding their hands through food safety practices. They will also be boosting their business through online ordering by creating a special destination on the app where consumers can discover their favorite street food vendors. By updating the Swiggy app, the customers in Ahmadabad, Delhi, Indore, Varanasi & Chennai can find “Street Vendor” which is under the restaurant category. The homepage of the Swiggy app also contains banners that lead the users directly to a range of street vendor listings.
Swiggy said in a statement that during the time of hiring, all vendors will be registered will the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Swiggy will then help in promoting Food Safety Training and Certification (FOSTAC) in association with FSSAI and their enlisted partners. After the registration & training, all vendors are required to do a self-review and demonstrate the standards they maintain. These standards are modeled based on the FSSAI’s guidelines to ensure that essential hygienic practices are observed. So far there are 1.47 lakh loan applications that have been reportedly received from street food vendors by The SVANidhi Scheme.
