As a part of Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNibhar Nidhi Scheme, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs entered into an MoU with Zomato, one of the largest online platforms for ordering and delivery of food in India, to onboard street food vendors on its food-tech platform.

It will give street food vendors online access to thousands of consumers and help these vendors grow their businesses. Further, MoHUA launched the Mobile Application for 'PMSVANidhi se Samriddhi'- Socio-economic profiling of PM SVANidhi beneficiaries and their families to link them to various Central Government Schemes.

The MoU with Zomato was exchanged between Sanjay Kumar, Joint Secretary, MoHUA and Mohit Sardana, COO, Zomato. Officials from Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Punjab as well as Municipal Commissioners of Bhopal, Ludhiana, Nagpur, Patna, Raipur and Vadodra also participated in the ceremony through video conferencing.

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.

Under the MoU, initially, MoHUA and Zomato will run a pilot program by on-boarding 300 vendors across six cities namely- Bhopal, Ludhiana, Nagpur, Patna, Raipur and Vadodara. The street vendors will be helped with PAN and FSSAI registration, training on technology, app usage, menu digitization and pricing, hygiene and packaging best practices. Upon the successful completion of the pilot, MoHUA and Zomato plan to expand this initiative across the country in phases.