Commenting on the issue of increased rents pushing up the price of food at hawker centres, Programme Director at the Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics at SMU and Assistant Professor of Finance Aurobindo Ghosh said that authorities could provide some access to rental facilities which are either subsidised or lower-priced to help hawkers tide over difficult periods. They could offer hawkers the option of paying back the amount when their businesses get bigger or become more stable. He also said that “[Hawkers] can, to some extent, mechanise some of the processes so that their dependence on hiring workers is less; some automation... would be helpful.”