Mumbai boy ties up with Dabbawallas, launches courier service

Pic/Twitter

Tilak Mehta, a 13-year-old boy from Mumbai donned the role of a budding entrepreneur by unveiling an app-based courier service that provides real-time tracking and will be used by the famous 'Dabbawallas'.

Called "Papers N Parcels", the start-up is dedicated to carrying small parcels and important documents, along with tiffins for an assured same-day delivery at nominal prices.

Speaking to ANI, Tilak Mehta said, "The idea came up when I had forgotten my books at my uncle's place. I was searching for courier companies which would provide me with the delivery. But, I didn't find much. And the ones which I got, their rates were between Rs. 200-250. It was way too high."

He added that one day he saw the Dabbawallas doing their delivery services and walked up to them with a few questions.

"I asked how strong was their service, to which they replied that they have services all over Mumbai. I even asked how much they were earning. They (Dabbawallas) gave me monthly rates. They do double delivery - one is delivering the tiffin and second, going back and picking up the tiffin. After working out few calculations, it came to just Rs. 45-50 per day," Mehta explained.

He chuckled that he was "lucky" that this idea cropped up his mind during his school vacations.

The budding entrepreneur revealed that he used to visit the Dabbawallas for 15 days and was involved with them in the entire process, starting from pickup to sorting and delivering.

Talking about the application of the app-based courier service, Mehta implied, "The app took three months to develop. You download the app from Appstore or Andoid. You can even go to www.papernpercels.com by registering basic information such as name and address. After that, you book the parcel within seconds and write your pickup either manually or through Google Maps. Then, you have three payment options - PayTM, PayUMoney and cash-on-delivery."

Stressing that his school would re-open in next few days, the boy pointed out his hectic schedule.

Mehta said, "My school will open soon. It will go on till 3 pm. I will be there in their office (Dabbawallas) from 4pm to 6pm in weekdays. After that, I have other commitments like finishing my homework. In weekends, I will spend time in the office and in the evening, I will go out to play."

The 13-year-old boy underscored that 'Papers N Parcels' would soon expand their services outside Mumbai, adding that New Delhi is now their next target, followed by other metropolitan cities.

"This is a growth potential in Indian market. If you want same-day delivery, then you need to book by 2:30 pm and we will expand this for other deliveries as well," Mehta further said.

Ghanshyam Parekh, the CEO of 'Papers N Parcels', said that it was a huge task to convince the Dabbawallas to be a part of the newly-launched courier service.

He told ANI, "The idea of the app was the brainchild of Tilak. We had a team who developed the app. Tilak used to review the entire process. Convincing the Dabbawallas was a huge task. But after that, they came to an agreement and understood that they would be earning more."

Parekh added that the courier service was as simple as booking a cab in Ola and Uber respectively.

He continued, "The service provider will get a notification. Like where the location of the pickup would be; Dabbawallas will get the address. The logic behind this is that the addresses will be arranged as per the distance."

Parekh continued that the Dabbawallas would deliver almost everything at nominal charges, starting from real estate documents to blood report papers.

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