Food delivery platforms Zomato and Swiggy recently got approvals from the Jharkhand state government for online ordering and home delivery of liquor. Following the same suite, Zomato has now announced that it will start delivering alcohol in Odisha starting today.
The new Zomato Wine Shops service will be available to customers on the home page of the app. Users will be able to select any product from the listed retailers and get it delivered to their doorsteps. Only licensed retailers will be listed under the new service and customers can purchase liquor from 9AM to 6PM as permitted by the state authorities.
Zomato has said that it would follow all the necessary 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 and users would be required to upload a valid ID proof to be eligible for ordering. Verification will be done at the time by the delivery partner at the time of handing over the order. There would also be product category limits to promote responsible ordering.
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As of now, the liquor delivery service is currently available in Bhubaneswar, and will soon expand to more cities including Rourkela, Balasore, Balangir, Sambalpur, Berhampur and Cuttack.
“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. We are working very closely with excise departments to ensure end-to-end compliance to the safety guidelines and are also introducing consumption and identity verification protocols to promote responsible ordering and consumption. 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,” said Rakesh Ranjan, Vice President at Zomato.
This is a big change for the liquor industry as this is the first time alcohol home delivery is being officially allowed in any part of India. This could also lead to a change in the laws pertaining to liquor consumption across the country and probably a centralized delivery system. International Spirits and Wines Association of India executive chairman Amrit Kiran Singh had earlier said that states should allow alcohol deliveries to help boost state revenues hit by the lockdown. “The challenge is to ensure revenue from alcohol continues to be available.”
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