E-commerce giant Amazon and e-grocer BigBasket will soon begin home delivery of alcohol in West Bengal.
The West Bengal State Beverages Corporation, which is the authorized agency to carry out online retail of liquor trade in the state, has shown the green flag to both companies, said a report published by Reuters.
With this, BigBasket and Amazon have joined the list of food tech unicorns Zomato and Swiggy who had also enabled home delivery of alcohol via the ‘Wine Shops’ category on their apps in Jharkhand and Odisha last month.
Queries sent to Amazon and BigBasket did not elicit any immediate response.
By enabling home delivery of alcohol in West Bengal, which is the fourth most populous state of the country, both companies are expected to generate additional business for their platforms while solving the problem of overcrowding at wine shops in the state.
For the state government, the decision seems like an effort to gain additional revenue from alcohol deliveries in a Covid-hit economy as liquor excise duty forms a huge chunk of state government revenues.
We have also reached out to West Bengal State Beverages Authority for the confirmation of the development and would update the post as and when it responds.
The alcohol delivery has come at a time when both the companies are exploring additional features to introduce on their platform and explore other avenues to make money.
While Amazon had recently officially started its food delivery business in India on its regular app under prime offerings, BigBasket also resumed its feature of express delivery in select pin codes across Bengaluru, NCR, and Hyderabad on Friday.
Entrackr had exclusively reported about BigBasket resuming express delivery.
