Want some 'lettuce' with your cabbage? Indian grocery service adds cash delivery

By ATMmarketplace.com

India's on-demand e-commerce grocery delivery service Grofers has partnered with Yes Bank, the nation's fifth largest private financial institution, to provide a cash delivery service to customers.

Grofers customers in the cities of Mumbai, Gurgaon and Bengaluru can get up to 2,000 rupees cash (approximately $30) along with their grocery order, according to a press release. The partners plan to add other cities soon.

To use the service, Grofers customers, while ordering groceries, can place a request for delivery of cash using a special code. Grofers' delivery staff will carry point-of-sale devices powered by Yes Bank that can be used to swipe the customer's debit card for seamless delivery of cash.

"Grofers is excited to partner with Yes Bank for delivering cash to our customers," Chief Financial Officer Ashneer Grover said in the release. "While we are delivering daily essentials such as groceries and fruits and vegetables without cash; we cannot totally eliminate the need of currency notes as people sometimes require them for other reasons. This is our humble attempt to help our customers."

Asit Oberoi, group president, Transaction Banking Group, Yes Bank, said "Yes Bank has consistently focused on providing a superior, technology-driven banking experience to its customers. We are happy to partner with Grofers in an endeavor to enable greater convenience of transactions, payments by card on delivery and also to bring cash to customers at the same time, by providing seamless withdrawal facilities using Yes Bank point-of-sale machines."

Grofers said in the release that its order volume has shot up 40 percent since the nation's demonetization of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes at the beginning of November. Its app has become a preferred means for people to purchase groceries — particularly fruits and vegetables from local farmers — without having to use cash.