How Covid-19 is pushing e-commerce firms and online vendors to innovate

While the Flipkarts and Amazons are burying differences and banking on each others' strengths, vendors are altering production lines to sell masks, PPEs and other Covid-related merchandise

Last year, Padit Borkar, a tomato farmer in Bengaluru, made a profit of Rs 5 lakh by selling his harvest. This year, when the time was ripe to sell his produce, the Covid-19 crisis gripped the country forcing it to go for a complete lockdown. Borkar’s tomatoes were rotting at the warehouse when he got to know about the ‘Harvest The Farms’ scheme launched by fresh-product supply chain firm Ninjacart. 

Under the HTF initiative, a customer can buy directly from farmers who are struggling to find a purchaser, on platforms such as Zomato, Swiggy and Dunzo, which have tied up