To strengthen and ensure that traditional small businesses and micro-enterprises are not left behind as the country transitions toward a digital economy, Grab will add five more markets across Selangor to its "Pasar by GrabMart" service.

The initiative will be in place on 24 April following GrabMart's positive feedback to Pasar, enabling customers to purchase directly from the TTDI Market fresh goods, herbs, poultry, meat, and meat in comfort at home.

"These financially turbulent times have brought us very promising results from our steps to protect the survival of our merchants, drivers, and supply partners," said Sean Goh, country head of Grab Malaysia.

Grab's Ramadan partnership with local governments and organizations will also allow it to step up its support for SMEs and micro-enterprises.

"We hope to enable them not only to support the millions of Grab users but also to make use of this platform to provide easy and reliable service to their daily customers," Goh said.

Also through its zero-interest "Deferred Fees" scheme, the organization has aggressively helping restaurants with an immediate cash flow.

It also offers zero pickup orders commissions and bears all associated processing costs for orders submitted through a social platform using the option of payment from GrabPay.

Almost 8,000 merchants benefited from the programs of Grab, Goh said.

More than 100 000 GrabCar drivers were also mobilized by the organization not only to meet the increased demand for delivery services but also to ensure the latter continued to have profit during the time of Movement Control Order (MCO), which greatly affected e-hailing.

While a temporary fix can be considered to minimize merchant fees on their own, Goh clarified that the majority of commissions go to the delivery network as revenue.

"In the light of the conditions of COVID-19 and MCO, we have been forced to adapt and evolve to create an economic environment that is sustainable.

"We, therefore, agreed to focus on helping our merchant group prosper by growing their demand and thus generating revenues for thousands of delivery partners," he added.

In the meantime, Grab's Small-Biz Relief and the 'Local-Heroes' have produced promising results, with 30 percent fewer independent restaurants and hawkers embracing the idea of online food supplies and an improvement in sales or orders of 25 percent.