MOHUA signs MoU with Zomato under PM SVANidhi Scheme to onboard street food vendors

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has entered into an MoU with online food ordering and delivery platform ‘Zomato’ under  Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNibhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme. Through this MoU, the government aims ot onboard street food vendors on the food-tech platform of ‘Zomato’ to help these food vendors grow their business by providing them online access to thousands of consumers.

MoHUA has also launched a Mobile Application for socio-economic profiling of the PM SVANidhi beneficiaries along with their families and link them to various Schemes of the Central Government.

Mohit Sardana, Chief Operating Officer, Zomato and Sanjay Kumar, Joint Secretary, MoHUA signed MoU in the presence of MoHUA secretary, Durga Shanker Mishra. Considering the prevailing scenario in which, the consumers have been restricted from stepping out due to the pandemic and they are also forced to follow norms of physical distancing. In these circumstances connecting the street food vendor through a technology enabled platform is aimed at helping them expand their business, thus enabling them to gain financially.

MoHUA had earlier signed an MoU with another online food delivery platform ‘Swiggy’. All these MoUs are considered as the government’s efforts towards empowering street food vendors by facilitating them greater income earning opportunities through digital technology that brings them on all these popular food-tech platforms.

As per the plans, MoHUA will initially on-board 300 vendors by running a pilot program across 6 cities: Ludhiana, Patna, Vadodara, Nagpur, Bhopal, Raipur and Nagur.  It will also help the street vendors with FSSAI registration, PAN and training on the use of technology, digitization of their menu, pricing, besides packaging and hygiene best practices.