Zomato, Swiggy launches home delivery of alcohol, start from Ranchi

The service went live in Ranchi on thursday and plan to expand it to other cities going forward.

Thursday May 21, 2020 , 2 min Read

Foodtech unicorns Swiggy and Zomato has enabled online processing and home delivery of alcohol through the ‘Wine Shops’ category on its app. The service went live in Ranchi on thursday and plan to expand it to other cities going forward.

Speaking about the introduction of the category, Anuj Rathi, VP - Products, Swiggy, said,

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, Swiggy has relentlessly worked to solve customer pain points and support local governments in every way possible. By enabling home delivery of alcohol in a safe and responsible manner, we can generate additional business for retail outlets while solving the problem of overcrowding, thereby promoting social distancing.”

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To ensure safe delivery of alcohol and in compliance with applicable laws, Swiggy has introduced measures such as mandatory age verification and user authentication to complete deliveries. Customers can complete their instant age verification by uploading a picture of their valid government ID, followed by a selfie which the platform will use for authentication using an AI-powered system.

All orders will carry a unique OTP which needs to be provided by the customer at the time of delivery. 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 law.

The service will be launched in other major cities in Jharkhand within a week, Swiggy said in a statement.

In similar vein, Zomato said it will go live in seven other cities in Jharkhand over the next couple of days.

"With due permissions and licences in place, we are starting home delivery of alcohol in Jharkhand. We believe that a technology-enabled home delivery-based solution can enable responsible consumption of alcohol as well as provide an option that's safer and promotes social distancing," a Zomato spokesperson said in a statement.