High Time for Home Delivery of Alcohol

LIQUOR, wine and beer manufacturers across Delhi-NCR and beyond, have been rallying for home delivery of alco-bev products as the recent localised lockdowns are presumed to remain in place for the near future given the crescendo of cases that has swept up the Capital.

- SHANTANU DAVID

Since restaurants and bars have been shut for dine-in for much of the last month, and alcohol shops are not essential in the strictest sense (never mind your need for a drink when you hear the latest Covid figures), vintners, brewers, and distillers are unable to sell their wares, creating a glut of supply for which there is unable to be a demand due to government-mandated closures.

So what is a beleaguered industry to do? “The most obvious step is liberalising home-deliveries for alco-bev products. Around the world, online sales is one of the most successful channels because it opens up accessibility for everyone and also keeps information transparent,” says Anand Virmani, CEO, Cofounder and Distiller at NAO Spirits, which owns high-end Indian gin labels like Greater Than and Hapusa. “At this time especially, when you do not want to promote people congregating in one place, I would think online shopping would be the ideal solution,” he adds.

Ashu Ratan Khare, Director of Delhi-based Rock & Storm Distilleries, whose company has a portfolio of 11 brands and earned over `2,500 crore in sales in the last five years, does the math. “We do around 25 crore in sales every month, which earns significant revenue for the government through taxation. We are only one company so you can imagine the total revenue the governments are missing out on due to a lack of sales.”