People can now order cash on Snapdeal to be delivered at their doorsteps, reported The Economic Times. The online marketplace has launched the service in parts of Gurgaon, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Surat for the time being. The company said the service would be made available in more cities soon. The Cash@Home service works only on the mobile application of Snapdeal.

How it works

People will need to install the Snapdeal app on their mobile phones. Users will get a push notification and an SMS alert if cash is available in their area, detected through the location data. The notifications will then redirect an user to the order page where one can opt for the service. After an order is placed, a logistic executive of the company will arrive at the user’s address with a point of sale machine, swipe the customer’s debit card on it and deliver Rs 2,000 in cash. Debit cards issued by any bank can be used to avail the service.

“Goodwill gesture”

The company said they have started the service as a “goodwill gesture”. They said a convenience charge of Re 1 would be imposed on every order, and one person can order only up to Rs 2,000 once in a day. Snapdeal said the money they would be providing would come from the cash they received on COD payments.

Rohit Bansal, co-founder of Snapdeal, said the service was intended to help people tide over the cash crunch because of the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8. “As the country transitions to a more digitally enabled economy, we’ve launched a series of timely initiatives – from wallet and card on delivery, to extending FreeCharge partnerships to smoothen this transition,” he said.

Before Snapdeal, Tailmill and Grofers (both deliver groceries) started similar cash on demand services. While for Grofers, one needs to order groceries worth Rs 2,000 to get cash delivered, Noida-based Tailmill partnered with flour seller TWF Flours to provide cash up to Rs 1,000 to its customers. Cab hailing service Ola had also set up mobile ATMs earlier this month in partnership with Yes Bank.