look news india
New Delhi/Special Correspondent. The Delhi government has taken an important step towards ending the long queues at liquor shops, huge crowd at billing counters and the fight for the favorite brand in the national capital. Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) has officially launched ‘Delhi Liquor Booking’ mobile app. Through this app, consumers of the capital will now be able to make advance booking and online payment for their favorite brand of liquor, beer or wine sitting at home. The main objective of this new initiative is to reduce unnecessary congestion at contracts, bring transparency in the billing process and provide customers with the convenience of making their choice in a transparent manner.
Excise Department and Corporation officials have made it clear that no doorstep delivery of liquor will be done under this app. The app allows advance booking and payment only.
After making the online payment, consumers will have to visit the respective liquor store in person and collect their bottles within a maximum of 48 hours. If a buyer does not pickup his order from the store within the stipulated 48 hours time frame, the order may be affected as per excise rules. However, officials say that until the bottle is handover from the shop, the customer will have the option to cancel his order from the app. There will be no legal provision for returning the liquor bottle once the delivery has been taken from the shop.
The strict rules of Delhi Excise Act have also been mandatorily implemented in this digital booking system:
-
Minimum age 25 years: The legal age limit for purchasing and consuming liquor in Delhi is 25 years. The age of the user will be verified during registration on the app and anyone below 25 years of age will not be able to book through this app. It may also be mandatory to show the original photo identity card at the time of pickup at the store.
-
Maximum purchase limit: Under excise rules, a person is allowed to book a maximum of 9 liters of whiskey/rum/vodka (hard liquor) and a maximum of 18 liters of beer. The system will automatically block bookings exceeding this amount.
Currently four government corporations (DSIIDC, DTTDC, DCCWS and DSCSC) together operate more than 700 retail liquor shops in Delhi. This new online booking service has been launched in the initial phase only for about 208 liquor shops run by DSIIDC.
Consumers will be able to book and pickup liquor only from those vends which are under the network of DSIIDC. At present this system will not work at shops run by other corporations. Excise officials say that this pilot system will be considered to be extended to the contracts of other government corporations in future only on the basis of customer inclination and technical review.
The process of purchasing liquor through ‘Delhi Liquor Booking’ app has been made extremely simple and digital:
-
App download and registration: The customer must first download the official ‘Delhi Liquor Booking’ app on his smartphone and register with his mobile number and basic identification details.
-
Shop and Brand Selection: Select your nearest DSIIDC liquor vend on the app. Then add the brand, bottle size and quantity of liquor, beer or wine available in real-time stock at that store to your cart.
-
Online Payment: After finalizing the items in the cart, pay the total amount online through UPI, Debit/Credit Card or Net Banking.
-
QR Code Generation: Once the payment is successful, a unique and encrypted QR code will be generated in the app, in which complete details of the order will be recorded.
-
Pickup at Store: Visit the selected DSIIDC store within the next 48 hours and get your QR code scanned at the special counter. Once the code is verified, the seller will immediately deliver your booked bottles to you, thereby completing the purchase within moments without standing in line.