Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Zomato for empowering street food vendors with new digital technology and to provide greater income-earning opportunities on the food delivery platform.
As part of Prime Minister Street Vendor's AtmaNibhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme, MoHUA and Zomato will work together to onboard street food vendors on Zomato's food-tech platform, a ministry statement explained.
This agreement will give street vendors access to thousands of customers and would thus help them in growing their business. MoHUA has also introduced 'PMSVANidhi se Samriddhi'
mobile app for socio-economic profiling of the scheme's beneficiaries and their families. This app will link beneficiaries to various other central government schemes.
As part of the MoU, MoHUA and Zomato will operate a pilot programme with 300 vendors across six cities. These are - Bhopal, Ludhiana, Nagpur, Patna, Raipur and Vadodara. Assistance will be provided to street vendors for PAN and FSSAI registration. They will receive training on using the partner app and other technolog aids, menu digitisation, basic hygiene and pricing of products.
Sanjay Kumar, Joint Secretary, MoHUA, exchanged the MoU with Mohit Sardana, Chief Operating Officer of Zomato. MoHUA Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra as well as other
MoHUA and Zomato officials were also present for the exchange.
State mission directors of DAY-NULM from Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Punjab joined the meeting via video conferencing. Municipal commissioners of Bhopal, Ludhiana, Nagpur, Patna, Raipur, Vadodra were also virtually present for the exchange.
"COVID-19 pandemic has restricted consumers from stepping out and forced them to follow physical distancing norms. In the given scenario it is important to connect street food vendors with technology-enabled platforms to help them grow their business, thus helping them gain financially," the ministry statement said.
MoHUA started implementing PM SVANidhi Scheme on June 1, 2020. The goal is to provide affordable working capital loan to street vendors who have been adversely affected due to the COVID-19 lockdown. As of February 4, 2021, the ministry has received over 36.40 loan applications under PM SVANidhi scheme. Over 18.80 lakh loans have been sanctioned while over 14.04 lakh loans have already been disbursed.
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