Food delivery company Zomato is now looking to home-deliver alcohol, according to a document seen by Reuters, as it seeks to cash in the high demand for booze during lockdown.?
Zomato has already started selling grocery and delivering it as the restrictions on movement shuttered some restaurants and people were hesitant to order food from outside due to fears of catching the virus.?
Liquor stores were closed nationwide on March 25, but since opening this week, they have generated crowds of hundreds of people in some cities.?
To limit the huge crowds outside the liquor shops, New Delhi, goverment introduced a special 70 per cent tax on top of retail alcohol prices, while Mumbai shut its liquor stores within two days of reopening them as social distancing norms were being flouted.?
There is currently no legal provision for the home deliveries of alcohol in India. This is something that the industry body International Spirits and Wines Association of India (ISWAI) is lobbying to change in support with Zomato and others.?
"We believe that a technology-enabled home delivery based solution can promote responsible consumption of alcohol," Mohit Gupta, Zomato's CEO for food delivery, wrote in a business proposal to ISWAI.
In India the legal age for drinking alcohol varies from state to state, ranging between 18 and 25 years.?
Zomato would target "areas that are relatively less affected by COVID-19," Mr Gupta wrote in the unpublished document, submitted to ISWAI in mid-April and seen by Reuters.