The Indian food delivery market has been in a soup due to the government imposed lockdowns in an attempt to contain the spreading of coronavirus. Online delivery companies like Zomato and Swiggy forayed into grocery and essential items delivery to keep business running amid losses due to the lockdowns.
The central government allowed the sale of alcohol in the third phase of the lockdown and food-tech unicorns thought of it as another way of compensation for revenue losses. Soon after rolling out alcohol delivery in Jharkhand and Odisha, India’s most valuable food delivery company, Swiggy said that it will now expand alcohol delivery service to West Bengal.
The food-tech unicorn recently said that it has started home delivery of alcohol in Kolkata and Siliguri and is planning to expand it to 24 other cities across West Bengal. Swiggy said it will leverage its existing technology and logistics infrastructure to ensure all guidelines are maintained including social distancing.
“Building on our successful launches in Jharkhand and Odisha we will now be enabling safe home delivery of alcohol in West Bengal. Starting with Kolkata and Siliguri, we will expand our services to 24 other cities across the state,” a company spokesperson said.
Both the delivery partners and retailers are being virtually trained through their respective apps to facilitate smooth processing and fulfilment of orders. Swiggy further said that it has implemented multiple safety measures to ensure safe home delivery of alcohol orders.
Another reason for the governments to allow home delivery of alcohol is to prevent overcrowding of people at shops amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The company is partnering with authorised retailers across major cities after validating their license and other required documents as outlined by the state government. Retail partners will be equipped with a dedicated partner app that enables all aspects related to online processing of orders, the statement said.
The spokesperson further noted that the company has been working closely with the West Bengal government since the beginning of the lockdown to provide support on multiple fronts including delivering grocery and essentials, seafood items, schoolbooks and distributing close to one lakh meals to the needy in Kolkata.
Customers need to complete a one-time instant age verification by uploading a picture of their valid government ID, followed by a selfie which the platform will use for authentication. There is also a capping on the order quantity to ensure a customer does not order alcohol above the prescribed limit as per the state’s excise law, said the company.
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