Swiggy to onboard 36,000 street food vendors under PM SVANidhi scheme
Published: Dec 11, 2020
By TIOLCORPLAWS News Service
NEW DELHI, DEC 11, 2020: FOOD ordering platform Swiggy is collaborating with the government to onboard 36,000 street food vendors for the Prime Minister Street Vendor's Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme in 125 cities.
In the pilot stage of the programme, Swiggy partnered with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in Ahmedabad, Varanasi, Chennai, Delhi and Indore to add 300 street vendors.
The PM SVANidhi scheme aims to provide working capital loans to street food vendors, while also boosting their business through online ordering. At the time of onboarding, all vendors will be registered with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and provided with a Food Safety Training and Certification (FOSTAC), Swiggy said.
The SVANidhi scheme has received loan applications from 147,000 street vendors so far, from which Swiggy will onboard and disburse the loan to 36,000 vendors in Phase 1.
The Centre also launched a programme for the socio-economic profiling of the beneficiaries of the scheme and their families to extend benefits of various government schemes. The programme was launched by Mr Durga Shanker Mishra, MoHUA Secretary.
"PM SVANidhi scheme should not be seen merely from the perspective of extending loans to street vendors but should also be seen as an instrument for outreach to street vendors and their families for their holistic development and socio-economic upliftment," a statement by MoHUA said.
Before a complete rollout in all Phase 1 cities, the ministry will run a pilot in six cities - Gaya, Indore, Kakching, Nizamabad, Rajkot and Varanasi.
?The scheme aims to provide affordable working capital loan up to Rs 10,000 to more than millions of street vendors whose businesses were affected adversely by the COVID-19 pandemic.