Swiggy in talks with state govts for alcohol delivery permits

Online food delivery platform Swiggy, run by Bundl Technologies, is in talks with state governments to obtain approval for doorstep delivery of alcohol.

“While we are exploring the possibility (of alcohol delivery), we want to prioritise the implementation of a safe delivery process and not rush into launching the service,” a spokesperson for the Bengaluru-based firm told TechCircle.

An email from TechCircle requesting details on the development was not answered till the time of publishing the story.

The news was first reported by The Economic Times. Several state governments held talks with startups such as Swiggy, Zomato, HipBar and Liqhub to understand the value proposition of alcohol delivery, the financial daily reported.

Read: Coronavirus India LIVE updates

Meanwhile, the Chhattisgarh government rolled out an online platform and mobile app earlier this month to deliver alcohol in the state.

Punjab, Maharashtra, Odisha and Delhi have in-principle welcomed the proposal to sell alcohol online to prevent overcrowding at stores.

Read: Swiggy co-founder Rahul Jaimini exits co, to focus on new HR tech venture

Swiggy was founded in 2014 by Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy and Rahul Jaimini. While Majety and Reddy are engineers from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS)-Pilani, Jaimini graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

The platform claims to connect consumers to over 1,60,000 restaurants and stores across more than 520 cities. Its main rival in the food delivery space is Zomato. 

Read: Swiggy may lay off employees, rejig some operations to tide over Covid-19 crisis

Earlier in the day, the startup suspended its loyalty programme Swiggy Super indefinitely. Last week, it set up a new engineering team in Chennai.

Last month, Swiggy raised $34 million (around Rs 263 crore at current exchange rates) as part of an ongoing growth funding round.