X

Mumbai Teen Joins Hands With Dabbawalas For Courier Start-up

The dabbawalas who have been delivering food for 125 years with incredible precision in Mumbai are also excited about the association

13-year-old Tilak Mehta has launched an app-based courier service which will utilise the services of Mumbai’s famed dabbawalas for assured deliveries within a day. The eighth grader’s start up called, Papers N Parcels, currently operates in Mumbai and handles parcels of upto three kgs with charges between Rs 40 and 140.

It is dedicated to carrying papers and small parcels within Mumbai for an assured intra-day delivery.

PNP uses a dedicated mobile application for business and already employs 200 on its own, and 300 dabbawalas who help in handling as many as 1,200 deliveries every day, PTI reported. Speaking to reporters, Tilak Mehta, founder of the courier start up, said, “Last year, I wanted a few books from another part of the city urgently. My father came home tired after a day’s work, and so I could not ask him. There was nowhere to go.”

Explaining the concept behind the start-up, he said, “Paper n Parcels is basically a digitalisation of courier. Unlike the usual courier where you have to visit the office for booking, you can now book that on app, the person will come to your home to collect the parcel and will deliver it to the designated address. You will also get a live tracking feature in the app and you will also have the option for same day delivery at very competitive price.”

This is when the idea of having a start-up dedicated to carrying papers and small parcels within the megapolis for assured intra-day delivery struck him. Tilak did extensive research and ran a beta test for four months before formally launching his startup today.

The dabbawalas who have been delivering food for 125 years with incredible precision in Mumbai are also excited about the association.

Subhash Palekar, spokesperson for Mumbai Dabbawala Association, had this to say, “Dabbawala’s earn less, so we need to find other sources to enhance our income and this work is related to the kind of work done by dabbawalas. So this will be easier for us and if it helps us in increasing our income then it’s a good thing.”