The Indian government implemented a lockdown in response to the Coronavirus pandemic back in late March. The lockdown effectively banned e-commerce companies from shipping orders for goods that were not ‘essential’. However, companies can now ship all goods in all zones in the country, except for containment zones.
Amazon has announced that it is accepting orders on all goods across the country. As long as you are not in a containment zone, you can order non-essentials from Amazon. Moreover, the company is also accepting ‘Pay on Delivery’ in most of these locations. The company has also announced measures to ensure social distancing for Pay on Delivery orders. You can read these measures here. However, if you are in a location where the company is only accepting ‘essential’ orders, you will only be able to make prepaid payments.
Amazon’s biggest rival in India, Flipkart, is also expected to begin accepting all orders in the country soon. However, as of this writing, the company has not announced if and when it will start accepting orders on non-essential items. The Delhi government is going to release the guidelines for Lockdown 4.0 today. Once these guidelines are out, we can expect Flipkart and Amazon to offer more details for order deliveries.
