Sodexo, known best for its meal vouchers in India , could soon make an entry into the neighhourhood fair price shop. The French giant, in consortium with Tata Consultancy Services and Vakarangee Software, has bid for a Madhya Pradesh government tender to supply food coupons under the PDS to 1.4 crore families.
The project is part of a central government initiative to facilitate the supply of subsidised food grains to the poor. The bids were submitted on February 17 this year, and are due to be opened in May. Accor, Sodexo?s competitor in the food voucher business in India , is also bidding for the same project, in consortium with HCL Technologies. The successful bidder will have to provide infrastructure and services to as many as 70 lakh below poverty line families and a similar number of people above the poverty line in the state.
Ashish Talwar, chief executive officer, Sodexo India said that the company proposes to disburse around 60 food coupons per BPL family in a year. When a consumer buys food grains from the fair price shop, he will have to hand over some of the coupons to the shop, which will be a kind of receipt. Later, these coupons are collected by the company from the FPS to verify that the food grains have reached the target group. The fee generated per ration card will be the revenue stream for the consortium.
While presenting the Union Budget this February, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had hinted at revamping the country?s PDS system by issuing food coupons. These coupons could be used to procure food from the open market and are believed to be a more effective mechanism to reach the target group. According to a 2008 study released by the Planning Commission, only about 42% of subsidised grains from the central pool reach the target group.
Sodexo, a provider of ?on-site and motivation solutions?, mainly operates in four verticals?meal vouchers, meal cards for large campuses, gift vouchers and food and facilities management. The company entered India in 1997 with its flagship business of meal vouchers for employees across the corporate sector.