After Jharkhand, Swiggy, Zomato to start home delivery of alcohol in Odisha
The startup is working very closely with excise departments to ensure end-to-end compliance with the safety guidelines, and is also introducing consumption and identity verification protocols to promote responsible ordering and consumption
After Jharkhand, Odisha becomes the second state, where online restaurant guide and food ordering platforms Swiggy and Zomato will be home delivering alcohol, starting with the capital city Bhubaneswar. Swiggy has even launched in Rourkela, and also plans to launch in Cuttack and Berhampur in the next couple of days.
The Delhi-NCR-based foodtech unicorn will soon expand to other cities in Odisha like Rourkela, Balasore, Balangir, Sambalpur, Berhampur and Cuttack, Zomato said in a statement.
"We're happy to be of service to our users in Odisha, who can now use Zomato to get alcohol delivered in addition to grocery and food delivery," said Rakesh Ranjan, Vice President of Zomato.
The startup is working very closely with excise departments to ensure end-to-end compliance with the safety guidelines, and is also introducing consumption and identity verification protocols to promote responsible ordering and consumption, he added.
"We are thankful to the Odisha government and the liquor retail industry in enabling safe and compliant delivery of alcoholic beverages in Odisha. We look forward to building this partnership together," Ranjan said.
Swiggy has partnered with HyperVerge to enable AI-face recognition for mandatory age verification and user authentication for alcohol deliveries. The integrated solution instantly digitises the customer's ID card, checks if the customer's selfie matches with the picture on the ID card, and then checks for selfie's liveness, i.e. if the customer is really present or if it is a photo of a photo. This additional layer of safety ensures that delivery of alcohol is in complete compliance with applicable laws and avoids under-age customers from placing the orders.
Speaking about the launch of the service in Odisha, a Swiggy spokesperson said, “Over the course of the last two months, Swiggy has stepped up to support the state government and citizens of Odisha by ensuring convenience through home deliveries of food, groceries, and essentials. After successfully launching alcohol delivery in Jharkhand, we are expanding our services to Odisha, starting with Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. Cuttack and Berhampur will follow in the next couple of days. Consistent with Swiggy’s approach, we have leveraged technology to automate the customer verification process and solve an important challenge and support the government with enabling safe deliveries.”
Zomato has also built several safety processes and checks to ensure the safe delivery of alcohol. There would be age checks at the time of ordering, as well as when the product is delivered, the statement said.
Users will be required to upload a valid ID proof to be eligible for ordering, which would later be verified by the delivery partner at the time of handing over the order. There would also be product category limits to promote responsible ordering, it added.
The service named Zomato Wine Shops would be available on the home page of the Zomato app, and will allow users to select any product from the listed retailers, and get it delivered right to their doorsteps said the startup.
On May 21, Zomato and Swiggy had started home delivery of alcohol in Ranchi, and said they planned to expand it to other cities going forward.
Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta
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