Zomato, Swiggy not allowed to deliver in many States

Food delivery platforms Zomato and Swiggy have been ordered to shut down in many states during the 21-day lockdown despite the union government’s guidelines categorizing food delivery under essential services.

Tamil Nadu and parts of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Assam, and Pondicherry have not allowed food delivery businesses to operate during the lockdown.

“Only cooked food supply from Swiggy and Zomato are not allowed,” tweeted Greater Chennai Corporation, a civic body that governs the capital city of Tamil Nadu.

Alos, food delivery is not allowed in most parts of Andhra Pradesh, while Telangana has allowed services with certain time restrictions.

“Food, including cooked food, is an essential service for at least 20% of the country’s population like students, paying guests and young professionals who depend on it, especially at a time like this when the country has advised everyone for medical reasons to stay where they are, and not travel back home,” said Vivek Sunder, COO, Swiggy.

Deliveries are mostly affected in top cities that include Lucknow, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Dehradun, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Bhopal, Indore, Chennai, and Coimbatore amongst other.

Over the last two days, Karnataka, Delhi-NCR and Maharashtra—the largest markets for India's food delivery startups—have moved fast and issued notifications to local authorities to let food delivery firms function smoothly. “We are working through the teething issues due to the lockdown,” said Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO, Zomato who is yet to see 100 per cent impact in most states.