Food delivery platforms Swiggy and Zomato are now delivering alcohol. The service is currently live in Ranchi, the capital city of Jharkhand. The news comes merely a few days after both companies laid off thousands of employees amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The feature resides in the ‘Wine Shops’ section present in Swiggy’s home page. In case you’re not seeing it, make sure the app is updated to the latest version available on Google Play Store or App Store. You will have to be above the legal drinking age to avail the service.
To make sure that the feature doesn’t get misused, Swiggy has brought in a mandatory age verification system. Users willing to order alcohol will have to complete a one-time age verification by uploading a valid government ID. You can upload Aadhaar Card, Pan card, Voter ID, or Passport in the process.
As part of the verification process, you will be asked to upload a selfie to prove your identity. Do keep in mind that this selfie has to be captured without wearing masks. Once this process is done, you will be given access to order from wine shops around your area, as you can see in the image below.
Swiggy will generate a unique OTP that will be asked at the time of delivery. The company says there will be an upper limit for orders to abide by the state law.
Speaking of the initiative, Swiggy’s VP-Products, Anuj Rathi said, “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.”
Meanwhile, Zomato has also been given the green light to start delivering alcohol in Jharkhand. As reported by MoneyControl, Zomato will start operations in Ranchi later today, followed by seven other cities in Jharkhand over the next couple of days.
