Product details

The much acclaimed Mumbai dabbawalas (dabbawalas) were well known for their efficiency in delivering lunch boxes (dabbas) from homes to offices and back with dedication and precision. It was an everyday miracle happening for over a century in Mumbai to provide quality door-to-door services to a large and loyal customer base. Their modus operandi had piqued the curiosity of even Harvard Business School Professors. Known as the masters of supply chain management, the dabbawalas service network had grown into a INR400-INR450 million industry with 5,000 semi-literate members transporting 200,000 lunch boxes daily for INR800 a month (less than £10) in 2017. Their success was attributed to the adoption of competitive collaboration between team members coupled with high level of technical efficiency in logistics management. They represented the use of base-of-the-pyramid approach to benefit both the low-income workers and high-income earners. All along, they resisted the momentum of change, but in order to keep pace with the burgeoning digital era, dabbawalas were willing to offer an array of digital services that included rental registrations to making of Aadhaar cards. They were increasingly under pressure to reinvent themselves, so as to meet the challenges posed by new-age companies like food delivery portals that were patronised by the younger generation. Would dabbawalas' digital move help in fighting competition and to grow further?