Covid-19 outbreak: Zomato may now get liquor for you amid lockdown

Food delivery firm Zomato aims to branch out into delivering alcohol, according to a document seen by Reuters, as it seeks to cash in on high demand for booze during the coronavirus lockdown.

Zomato has already diversified into grocery as the restrictions on movement shuttered some restaurants and people hesitated to order outside food. Alcohol stores, closed nationwide on March 25, were allowed to re-open this week, generating queues of hundreds of people, leading to baton charges by police to enforce social distancing.

There is no legal provision for home deliveries of alcohol in India, something that industry body International Spirits and Wines Association of India (ISWAI) is lobbying to change in conjunction with Zomato and others.

"We believe that a tech-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.

Zomato would target "areas that are less affected by Covid-19," Gupta wrote in the unpublished document, submitted to ISWAI in mid-April and seen by Reuters.

Zomato did not respond to a request for comment.
ISWAI's executive chairman Amrit Kiran Singh said: "The challenge is to ensure revenue from alcohol continues to be available. It is imperative they (states) reduce the load on the retail counter by encouraging delivery."

Zomato’s rival Swiggy, which Singh said ISWAI had also contacted, declined to comment.