India’s tiffinwalas fuel economy

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Excerpt: Every morning, 65-year-old Dhondu Chaudhary picks up a lunchbox from Arpana Rao’s home in the suburbs of Mumbai.

Mrs Rao relies on Mr Chaudhary to get her husband’s daily lunch delivered to Mumbai’s financial district where he works.

That is about an hour away from her home – and looking after her new baby means she barely has time for herself, let alone find the time to deliver a tiffin, or lunchbox, to her husband’s office.

That is where Mr Chaudhary comes in.

He has to deliver Mr Rao’s home cooked meal to his office in town.

For this service, he charges her $5 (?2.70) a month. Each month he makes about $80 from Mrs Rao and other customers.

Source: BBC (link opens in a new window)