DBS Bank India partners with Social Alpha to find innovative solutions to tackle food loss and waste

• It is estimated that 50 kg of household food is wasted per person per year in India*.
• The program highlights DBS’ ongoing initiative Toward Zero Food Waste (TZFW)
• The joint initiative with Social Alpha – “Techtonic Innovations Towards Zero Food Waste” supports innovative technologies and solutions to combat food loss and waste.

Mumbai, India, April 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — DBS Bank India today announced its partnership with Social Alpha, a popular innovation curation and business development platform for tech start-ups, to address the global problem of food waste through sustainable solutions. The partnership reinforces DBS’s commitment to supporting entrepreneurial efforts to address supply chain productivity and efficiency issues driving food waste and value erosion in the food and agribusiness sector.

Nearly 40% of the food produced in India is lost before it reaches markets and then wasted at the retail level, decreasing nutritional security and leading to loss of income for farmers. In addition, household food waste is estimated at 50 kg per capita, totaling 68M tons per year.

Techtonic Innovations Towards Zero Food Waste, presented by DBS and powered by Social Alpha, is a two-year program that identifies innovative and scalable solutions by entrepreneurs to help reduce quantitative and qualitative food loss and waste in food systems and agrifood value chains. As part of this commitment, selected start-ups will receive a grant to develop their product and marketing strategy, benefit from branding support, access local partnerships and present seed capital. Social enterprises who want more information and want to apply can visit https://www.socialalpha.org/techtonic-innovations-towards-zero-food-waste/

Commenting on the partnership, Shoma NarayananManaging Director – Group Strategic Marketing & Communications at DBS Bank India, said“About a third of the world’s food is lost or wasted every year. That’s enough to feed three billion people. DBS is committed to changing the way food production and consumption is viewed, and our partnership with Social Alpha is an important step towards solving the problem of food waste through sustainable solutions.”

Innovations along the food value chain are needed to reduce food loss and waste, which positively impacts livelihoods, the economy and the climate. Supporting social impact innovations with investments can significantly drive change towards creating a better future.

Nikhita Nadkarni, Director and Principal, Livelihoods & Prosperity at Social Alpha, said“The post-harvest infrastructure currently available to smallholder farmers is insufficient and inaccessible, resulting in massive food waste and loss of income for farmers. We believe there is an opportunity to address this issue through innovations technological and entrepreneurial spirit. We are excited about our partnerships with DBS Bank to accelerate efforts towards zero food waste. Through Techtonic, DBS and Social Alpha will be looking for 5 high-impact, mission-driven start-ups and provide them with business acceleration support to achieve scale and impact.

DBS works with its customers to provide financing solutions to support sustainable supply chains in the agricultural sector, reducing waste for suppliers and processors. He recently partnered with Stellapps, a tech start-up, to provide farmers with access to finance for digitizing small dairies across India.

Towards Zero Food Waste (TZFW)

DBS believes that businesses have a role to play in helping find solutions to issues such as food waste. As part of the bank’s commitment to a sustainable and climate-resilient future, they launched a regional movement in 2020 to galvanize multiple stakeholders into action towards zero food waste, creating impact collective. This DBS-led initiative generated over 600,000 kg of food impact through Asia (such as food waste reduction and recycled or redistributed food) from 2021.

DBS’s approach to the TZFW initiative aligns with DBS’s three sustainability pillars, Responsible Banking, Responsible Business Practices and Creating Social Impact, through which they aim to encourage a change in behavior and mindset to reduce food waste by 1) advocating and raising public awareness of the issue 2) engaging employees and reducing food waste in business operations; and 3) partnering with ecosystem partners to increase impact.

Learn more about how a can create an impact in their everyday life. Together, let’s live more, let’s waste less for a better world!

*According to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

About DBS

DBS is a leading financial services group in Asia with 18 markets. Recognized for its global leadership, DBS has been named “The best bank in the world” by Euromoney, “Global Banks of the Year“by The Banker, and”best bank in the worldby Global Finance. The bank is at the forefront of using digital technology to shape the future of banking, having been named “World’s Best Digital Bank” by Euromoney and the “The most innovative in digital banking” by The Banker. Additionally, DBS was granted the “safest bank in Asiaawarded by Global Finance for 13 consecutive years from 2009 to 2021. DBS was also ranked #1 on the Forbes list of the world’s best banks in India for two consecutive years.

DBS Bank is present in India for 28 years, opening its first office in Bombay in 1994. DBS Bank India Limited is the first of the major foreign banks India to begin operating as a wholly owned, locally incorporated subsidiary of a leading global bank. DBS provides a full range of banking services to large, medium and small businesses and individuals in India. In 2016, DBS launched india first exclusively mobile bank, digibank, with approximately 1 million savings accounts. In November 2020, Lakshmi Vilas Bank merged with DBS Bank India Limited. The bank now has a network of nearly 600 branches in 19 states of the India.

DBS offers a full range of retail, SME and corporate banking services. As a bank born and raised in Asia, DBS understands the intricacies of doing business in the region’s most dynamic markets. DBS is committed to building lasting relationships with its customers and positively impacting communities by supporting social enterprises, as it does its banking the Asian way. He also established a SGD 50 million foundation to strengthen its social responsibility efforts Singapore and Asia. In 2020, DBS launched the “Towards Zero Food Waste” initiative as part of a global sustainability practice to encourage behavior and mindset change to reduce food waste.

Thanks to its vast network of operations in Asia and its focus on engaging and empowering its people, DBS presents exciting career opportunities. The bank recognizes the passion, commitment and dynamic spirit of our more than 30,000 employees representing more than 40 nationalities. For more information, please visitwww.dbs.com.

About Social Alpha

Social Alpha is a multi-stage innovation and business development curation platform for science and technology start-ups tackling the most critical social, economic and environmental challenges through the power of entrepreneurship and market-creating innovations. Since its creation in 2016, Social Alpha has supported more than 200 start-ups, including more than 60 seed investments.

For more information, please visit www.socialalpha.org.

SOURCE DBS Bank India