1. The Wonder of Mumbai Dabbawallas
Inspiration of Management

2. Bibliography
www.mydabbawala.com

3. Introduction
• A dabbawala (one who carries the box, see Etymology), sometimes spelled
dabbawalla or dabbawallah, is a person in the Indian city of Mumbai
whose job is to carry and deliver freshly made food from home in lunch
boxes to office workers. Tiffin is an old-fashioned English word for a light
lunch, and sometimes for the box it is carried in. Dabbawalas are
sometimes called tiffin-wallas.
• For the efficiency of their supply chain it has been claimed
that this virtually achieves a Six Sigma performance rating, (i.e.
99.9999% of deliveries are made without error)
• Though the work sounds simple, it is actually a highly specialized trade that
is over a century old and which has become integral to Mumbai's culture.
• The dabbawala originated when India was under British rule: many Indian
people who worked in British companies disliked the British food served by
the companies, so a service was set up to bring lunch to them in their
workplace straight from their home. Nowadays, Indian businessmen are
the main customers for the dabbawalas, and the service often includes
cooking as well as delivery.

4. What is NMTBSA?
(Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association)
• History : Started in 1880
• Charitable trust : Registered in 1956
• Avg. Literacy Rate : 8th Grade Schooling
• Total area coverage : 60 Kms
• Employee Strength : 5000
• Number of Tiffin's : 2,00,000 Tiffin Boxes
i.e 4,00,000 transactions every day.
• Time taken : 3 hrs

5. • Error Rate : 1 in 16 million transactions
• Six Sigma performance (99.999999)
• Technological Backup : Nil.
• Cost of service - Rs. 200/month ($ 4.00/month)
• Standard price for all (Weight, Distance, Space)
• Rs. 50 Cr. Turnover approx.
[200,000*200=400,000,00 p.m. i.e 48 crore p.a.]
• “No strike” record as each one a share holder
• Earnings -5000 to 6000 p.m.

6. DABBAWALLAS IN TRAIN COMPARTMENT
The word "Dabbawala" can be translated as "box-carrier" or "lunchpail-
man". In Marathi and Hindi, "dabba" means a box (usually a cylindrical
aluminium container), while "wala" means someone in a trade involving the
object mentioned in the preceding term.

7. APPROACH
DISCIPLINE :
• No Alcohol Drinking during business hours
• Wearing White Cap during business hours
• Carry Identity Cards
WOMEN:
• Mrs. Bhikhubai of Borivali(East)
• Mrs. Anandibai of Andheri(East)
LATEST MARKETING STRATEGY:
Marketing message in the “dabba”

8. Case Study : TBSA
Tiffin Box Suppliers Association
Executive Committee
How do they do it…? (5 members)
• Organizational structure
Teams of 20-25 headed by a
group leader
• Operations
• War against Time (10.30 –
1.00) Individual Dabbawalla
workload = 30 tiffins
• The Code

9. ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
The service is uninterrupted even on the days of extreme weather, such as
Mumbai's characteristic monsoons. The local dabbawalas at the receiving and
the sending ends are known to the customers personally, so that there is no
question of lack of trust. Also, they are well accustomed to the local areas they
cater to, which allows them to access any destination with ease. Occasionally,
people communicate between home and work by putting messages inside the
boxes. However, this was usually before the accessibility of
telecommunications

10. PRESIDENT
VICE PRESIDENT
13 MEMBERS
GENERAL SECRETARY
TREASURER
DIRECTORS(19)
MUKADAM
MEMBERS(5000)

11. PRESIDENT & GENERAL SECRETARY
NUTAN MUMBAI TIFFIN BOX SUPPLIERS ASSOCIATION

12. FINANCIAL DATA OF A GROUP
1st group –
Rs 125000 Total earnings -20 People
Rs 35000 Maintenance cost
Tiffin luggage basket pass – Rs 180 per person.
Maintenance of cycles – Rs 300 – 2 cycles per month.
Maintenance of wooden boxes – Rs 100 per person .
T.C , police robbery of Tiffin Rs 500 yearly.
Organizational fee Rs 15 per head.
Puja held per station Rs 50 per head.

13. Awards and Felicitation
 Shri.Varkari Prabhodhan Mahasmati Dindi (palkhi) sohala – 4th march
– 2001.
 Invitation from CII for conference held in Bangalore.
Documentaries made by BBC ,UTV, MTV, and ZEE TV
Dabbawalla services are popular with the Indian IT developer
community in Silicon Valley, California, USA
In literature
One of the two protagonists in Salman Rushdie's controversial novel The Satanic
Verses, Gibreel Farishta, was born as Ismail Najmuddin to a dabbawallah. In the
novel, Farishta joins his father, delivering lunches all over Bombay (Mumbai) at
the age of 10, until he is taken off the streets and becomes a movie star.
Dabbawalas feature as an alibi in the Inspector Ghote novel Dead on Time.

14. Some Achievements
• World record in best time management.
• Name in “GUINESS BOOK of World Records”.
• Registered with Ripley's “ believe it or not”.

15. LOGISTICS
Logistics is happening 24 hrs a day,7 days a week and
52 weeks a year.
Logistical competency is achieved by coordinating the
following:
 Network Design
 Information
 Transportation
 Inventory
 Warehousing

16. • Coding
VLP : Vile Parle
(Suburb in Mumbai)
9E12 : Code
for Dabbawallas at
Destination
E : Express Towers
(Bldg. Name)
12 : Floor No.
E : Code for
Dabbawallas at
Residential station.
3 : Code for Destination station
(E.g.. Nariman Point)

17. • Let us now look at an example of these
codes on the tiffins to better
understand the system and what it all
denotes:

18. MR. RAGHUNATH MEDGE

19. • 10:34-11:20 am
• This time period is actually the journey
time. The dabbawalas load the wooden
crates filled with tiffins onto the luggage or
goods compartment in the train. Generally,
they choose to occupy the last compartment
of the train.

20. • 11:20 – 12:30 pm
• At this stage, the unloading takes place at
the destination station
• Re-arrangement of tiffins takes place as per
the destination area and destination building

21. • In particular areas with high density of customers, a special
crate is dedicated to the area. This crate carries 150 tiffins
and is driven by 3-4 dabbawalas!

22. • 1:15 – 2:00 pm
• Here on begins the collection process where
the dabbawalas have to pick up the tiffins
from the offices where they had delivered
almost an hour ago.

23. RETURN JOURNEY:
• 2:00 – 2:30 pm
• The group members meet for the segregation as
per the destination suburb.

24. • 2:48 – 3:30 pm
• The return journey by train where the group
finally meets up after the day’s routine of
dispatching and collecting from various
destination offices
• Usually, since it is more of a pleasant
journey compared to the earlier part of the
day, the dabbawalas lighten up the moment
with merry making, joking around and
singing.

25. • 3:30 – 4:00 pm
• This is the stage where the final sorting
and dispatch takes place. The group
meets up at origin station and they finally
sort out the tiffins as per the origin area
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26. THE ROYAL VISIT:
• Recently, the dabbawala’s had royal company at Churchgate station. The Prince of
Wales himself had visited them when he came down to Mumbai.
• He took keen interest in their way of functioning, expressed surprise at their
efficiency and was struck with awe when he was told that they didn’t employ any
technology.
• The prince was presented a small memento, accompanied with a garland, a Gandhi
topi and a trophy by the dabbawalas.

27. RICHARD BRANSON CHAIRMAN VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS MUMBAI
• Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Atlantic Airways,
meeting the Mumbai's famed 'Dabbawalas' at their nodal
point, the Churchgate Railway Station in South Mumbai, on
April 1, 2005.

28. Order Dabbawalas Products and services Online
MyDabbawalas.com developing a software application through which
the people of Mumbai can order Dabba service online through internet.
The order will be booked online and Dabba will be picked up from your
home and will be delivered to office in time.

29. Order through SMS
Although the service remains essentially low-tech, with the barefoot delivery boys as the
prime movers, the dabbawalas have started to embrace technology, and now allow booking
for delivery through SMS. A web site, mydabbawala.com, has also been added to allow for
on-line booking, in order to keep up with the times. An on-line poll on the web site ensures
that customer feedback is given pride of place.
The success of the system depends on teamwork and time management that would be the
envy of a modern manager. Such is the dedication and commitment of the barely literate and
barefoot delivery boys (there are only a few delivery women) who form links in the extensive
delivery chain, that there is no system of documentation at all. A simple colour coding system
doubles as an ID system for the destination and recipient. There are no elaborate layers of
management either — just three layers.
Each dabbawala is also required to contribute a minimum capital in kind, in the shape of two
bicycles, a wooden crate for the tiffins, white cotton kurta-pyjamas, and the white trademark
Gandhi topi (cap). The return on capital is ensured by monthly division of the earnings of
each unit.

30. THANK YOU
Presentation :Reji Meprathe
reji.m@gardencitycollege.edu
www.gardencitycollege.edu