Snapdeal Lets Consumers Buy, Get Cash Delivered

Snapdeal, the online retailer in India, has the answer to the cash crisis going on in the country: door-to-door delivery of cash.

According to a report, Snapdeal is letting Indian residents in two cities place an order of rupees over the internet, pay with a bank card and have the cash delivered to their door as Snapdeal tries to capitalize on the cash crisis that took hold in India starting in November.

Back then, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the country’s 500-rupee and 1,000-rupee banknotes were being taken out of circulation. As reported by the BBC, taking those notes out of the financial system represented an effort to stymie fraud efforts, corruption and what the BBC noted as “illegal cash holdings.” Modi stated that the illegal activities are among the “biggest obstacles in eradicating poverty” — with a bead being drawn on tax evaders, according to the BBC. A new set of 500-rupee and 2,000-rupee notes are being issued as replacements. Banks have 50 days to comply with the new directive, with individuals able to exchange those notes beginning Nov. 10 and extending through Dec. 30.

According to the report, the move on the part of Snapdeal could end up being a smart way to get new users to access its app and get existing customers to make purchases as they buy cash. The cash the online retailer is delivering is mainly money it gets from customers who make cash-on-delivery payments, which are popular in India. The service is currently available in the Indian cities of Gurgaon and Bangalore, with plans to expand to more cities.

“The launch of the cash-on-demand service is intended to further help our consumers tide over any cash crunch that they might face in addressing their daily needs,” Snapdeal Cofounder Rohit Bansal said in the report. For the service, customers pay one rupee and are able to get up to 2,000 rupees per transaction. Grofers, an online grocery service in India, launched a similar program in which customers can get cash back when they get purchases delivered to their home.