Flipkart ties up with Mumbai's Dabbawalas

Leading e-retailer Flipkart on Thursday announced partnering with Mumbai's world famous Dabbawalas for last mile delivery to its customers in the country's financial capital.

"The association with the popular Dabbawalas in Mumbai is an effort to explore newer delivery channels and leverage their unique expertise to enhance our last mile delivery capabilities," the city-based e-commerce firm said in a statement.

Without formal administrative machinery, the 120-year-old Dabbawalas (box carriers) system carries lunch boxes and delivers them to their customers across the bustling metropolitan with a population of 21 million.

"The Dabbawalas are an inspiration on how to conduct business without paper or administrative back-up to keep costs minimal. As a trusted brand, their unique delivery system has been smooth, reliable and survived the test of time," Flipkart director for last mile delivery Neeraj Aggarwal said in the statement.

As a partner to eKart, the Dabbawalas will collect Flipkart's shipments from delivery hubs and deliver them to the customers while picking their boxes.

"We have trained the first batch of Dabbawalas at our delivery centres to use a paper-based tracking system with the idea being to train them on using apps and other wearable tech," Aggarwal added.

As an e-commerce marketplace, Flipkart offers over 20 million products across 70 categories, including books, media, consumer electronics and lifestyle through cash-on-delivery service with a 30-day replacement policy.

The eight-year-old firm claims to have 30 million registered users with 10 million daily visits or hits on its online portal and delivers eight million shipments a month.