Swiggy and Zomato are already started delivering alcoholic beverages to the doorstep of the residents of Ranchi and planning to expand their service. Now, the e-commerce giant Amazon and the grocery delivery service BigBasket are going to enter this business. On this Friday, West Bengal State Beverages Corp announced both the companies have the required permissions to start this business in West Bengal. But, before that, they have to sign an MoU with the state.
The licensing of both Amazon and BigBasket is the procedure to legalize the alcohol home-delivery process. For safety, the earlier implementors, Swiggy, applied a mandatory age verification procedure before ordering alcohol, so that the service can’t be misused. To verify the age, any one of the government ID proofs like Adhaar Card, Voter Card, or Passport is required.
The opening of the Alcohol section to the e-commerce platforms is happily welcomed by the International Spirits and Wines Association of India (ISWAI). The trade body’s executive chairman Amrit Kiran stated, “It is imperative they (states) reduce the load on the retail counter…by encouraging home delivery”.
This initiative is not new, it is already implemented earlier, even before Swiggy and Zomato. But that was closed because of regulatory issues. But now, time changes. Hope it will not be misused.
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