The extensive network of famed Mumbai 'dabbawalas', who supply lunch to thousands daily, doubled up as salesmen for a mutual fund company, as a part of the company's new marketing initiative.

The dabbawalas, while delivering lunch 'dabbas', also handed out UTI MF's forms to their customers.

The marketing campaign lasted for three days from Monday.

"Around 5,000 dabbawalas took part in the activity. In the future as well, we would be pleased to be involved in such initiatives," Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers' president Raghunath Medge told PTI in Mumbai.

The dabbawalas wore UTI MF T-shirts and were trained by the company in the modalities of handing over the mutual fund forms to around 100,000 of their daily customers.

"We had been asked to distribute the forms and we got some amount of money for it," Medge said.

The dabbawalas have been offering their traditional services for the last 118 years and have provided a helping hand to brands like Coca Cola and Radio Mirchi earlier.

Last year, Coca-Cola had sought dabbawalas' assistance in distributing free samples of its orange juice brand, Minute Maid Pulpy Orange.

In 2004, dabbawalas had helped Radio Mirchi promote its morning show 'Hello Mumbai'.

Over a period of four days, dabbawalas gave a dried red 'mirchi' (chilli) along with a sticker on the lunch boxes saying 'For more spice tune into Hello Mumbai'.