Swiggy Starts Home Delivery Service For Liquor Bottles: How To Order?

On Thursday, online food delivery platform Swiggy started alcohol home delivery service in Jharkhand and said that it is in advanced stages of discussions with multiple state governments for providing similar service.

After liquor shops were reopened in Jharkhand on Wednesday for the first time since the lockdown was imposed, long queues were seen outside these shops, despite an additional 25 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) imposed by the state government.

How to order?

Residents of Ranchi can now get alcohol home delivered through the 'Wine Shops' category by updating their Swiggy app, the company said, adding that the service will go live in other major cities in the state within a week.

Swiggy said it has obtained necessary approvals from the Jharkhand government for the service.

"Since the beginning of the pandemic, Swiggy has relentlessly worked to solve customer pain points and support local governments in every way possible," Anuj Rathi, Swiggy's Vice President for Products said in a statement.

"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," it added.

Mandatory age verification and user authentication will be performed to complete deliveries.

Customers can complete their instant age verification by uploading a picture of their valid government ID, followed by a selfie which the platform will use for authentication using an Artificial Intelligence-powered system, Swiggy said.

All orders will carry a unique one-time-password (OTP) which needs to be provided by the customer at the time of delivery.

There is also a capping on the order quantity to ensure a customer does not order alcohol above the prescribed limit as per the state law.