Amazon, Snapdeal to begin delivery of non-essential goods in green and orange zones from May 4

• In India’s green and orange zones, delivery of non-essential goods from e-commerce companies is set to begin.
• However, in red zones delivery is restricted only to essential goods.
• On Friday (May 1), the Modi government extended the lockdown in India for two more weeks.

After a long wait, e-commerce services in India will start delivering non-essential goods in India’s green and orange zones.

While delivery of only essential goods continues to be the norm in the red zones across the country, ET quoted a senior government official to confirm that non-essential delivery will begin in green and orange zones.


"We welcome the Government’s decision to allow ecommerce in Orange and Green Zones to serve people safely with products that they need and have not been able to access due to the lockdown.. Millions of small and medium businesses and traders will now be able to jumpstart their businesses and livelihoods across their workforce,” said an Amazon spokesperson.

Snapdeal too will start shipping essentials and non-essentials as per government guidelines. Also, the orders placed before the lockdown will also start to flow now. "We expect 80-90% of our sellers in the non-restricted zones to be live in the coming week. Other sellers remain in readiness and are keen to commence operations - they will be assessing the local operating conditions in their areas and we will continue to guide and support them in this regard. Since a majority of Snapdeal’s orders come from non-metros, Tier 2 & 3 cities, we expect a large part of India to be available for our deliveries," said a Snapdeal spokesperson.

On Friday (May 1), the Modi government extended the lockdown in India for two more weeks, but with a relaxation guideline. Red zones continue to be hotspots across the country with most cases of coronavirus, while green zones are areas where there are no cases reported.

“While we will maintain the sanctity of the new guidelines around the Red Zones, we urge the government to consider the positive role ecommerce can play to get customers all priority products they need in the Red Zones as well, enabling a stronger economic support for the small businesses while prioritising safety,” said the Amazon spokesperson.

There has been a lot of back and forth with regards to the movement of e-commerce goods across the country. Last week, when the government had allowed shops to reopen, an initial order had indicated that all e-commerce deliveries will begin across the country. However, the guideline was soon rolled back to include only essential goods.

Many e-commerce companies like Flipkart are still waiting for directives from state governments to begin non-essential delivery.

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