Swiggy and Zomato confirm home delivery of alcohol in Jharkhand – and it’s a lot easier than getting liquor in Maharashtra

• Foodtech unicorns Swiggy and Zomato are finally delivering alcohol now, although only in Jharkhand as of now.
• Swiggy has introduced a wine shops category and the service is already live in Ranchi.
• Swiggy has “mandatory age verification and user authentication” for the delivery of liquor at home.

Foodtech unicorns Swiggy and Zomato are finally delivering alcohol now, although only in Jharkhand as of now.

Swiggy has introduced a wine shops category and the service is already live in Ranchi. The company said that it is in talks with many other state governments to start home delivery of alcohol.

“Taking advantage of our existing technology and infrastructure to enable hyperlocal deliveries, we have been working closely with the local authorities to support them with initiatives like expansion of grocery delivery and COVID-19 relief efforts. 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,” said Anuj Rathi, VP - Products, Swiggy in a statement.

"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.We will go live in Ranchi later today and 7 other cities in Jharkhand over the next couple of days," said a Zomato spokesperson.

But there are conditions. Swiggy has “mandatory age verification and user authentication” for the delivery of liquor at home. While ordering customers have to take a selfie as well as upload a valid picture of their government ID card.

“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,” said the company.

However, Swiggy’s rules seem to be a lot simpler than that in Maharashtra, where home delivery is still not allowed in Mumbai or Nagpur.

Maharashtra too had allowed liquor delivery in the state but the process is much more tougher. To get alcohol home delivered in Maharashtra, one has to register themselves at Maharashtra excise department’s website and get a liquor token. Once they have a token, they can place an order through Whatsapp or by calling up the store. The store, which has to obtain a pass for delivery, can only have a maximum of 10 delivery persons.

Recently, with Lockdown 3.0 the government had allowed liquor shops to open but it had resulted in thousands of people gathering outside the shops and giving no thoughts to social distancing.

The Karnataka government too had allowed microbreweries in Bengaluru to sell their already existing stock of beer.