The ongoing coronavirus pandemic😷 has led to some dramatic changes as to how things functioned.
Apart from forcing people to work from home and students switching to online classes👩🏻💻, it has also brought a major change in the alcohol business.
Now, govts. have been forced to allow deliveries of alcohol at consumers’ doorsteps.
The govt. of West Bengal has just given its nod👍 to such a mechanism.
It has allowed e-commerce giant Amazon and online grocery platform, Big Basket to deliver liquor🍺 in its territory.
The Details-
The approval for Amazon and Big Basket comes after both the companies were found🧐 eligible for this job by West Bengal State Beverages Corporation.
Notably, food aggregators, Zomato and Swiggy have already started delivering alcohol in the cities of Kolkata🏙️ and Siliguri after getting the required approvals.
Meanwhile, another eight lesser-known companies, who have also expressed interest☝️ in alcohol delivery, have been asked by BevCo to demonstrate their capabilities in executing online orders.
What lies ahead?
For now, Amazon and Big Basket have been allowed to deliver alcohol only in West Bengal.
Whether other states will also take this same route or not is yet to be seen, since every state has different policies and regulations📃 regarding the sale of alcohol.
Apparently, online sale of alcohol could help the economy since liquor taxes cover about 15-30% of a state’s revenue💰.
The sum figure of all the state govts’ is estimated to be around Rs. 2.48 lakh crores.