Zomato now delivers groceries in more than 80 cities in India

Zomato has also extended all paid Zomato Gold memberships by two months at zero cost.

Zomato first launched its grocery delivery services in Delhi, Punjab and Kerala. (Zomato)

Zomato on Tuesday announced the company has begun delivering grocery in more than 80 cities in India. The move comes in the wake of Covid-19 lockdown. Zomato had begun delivering essential items in select cities earlier this year.

Zomato's grocery delivering service was first confirmed by politician Shashi Tharoor. In a tweet, Tharoor said that Zomato had teamed up with SupplyCo. Operations to home deliver groceries in cities such as Kochi, Trivandrum, Kottayam and Thrissur. The service was also extended to Delhi and Punjab, YourStory said in a report.

Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal said that the company is extending all the proceeds from Zomato Gold subscriptions in April towards supporting restaurant workers hit by the lockdown.

"This has already been launched in India and the UAE, and will be live in other markets over the next few days," the Zomato CEO said in a statement.

"The world has come to a halt, and unfortunately, the restaurant industry that we are in, is one of the worst hit. It is in times like these when we really need to rise to the occasion and support each other to the best of our abilities," Goyal emphasized.

Zomato is also offering two extra months of Zomato Gold membership at zero cost in various countries including India, the UAE, Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, Lebanon, Turkey, New Zealand, Portugal and Qatar.

The company also announced launching takeaway service in Australia and Portugal to support restaurants.

Apart from home delivery of essential items, Zomato has launched a "Feed the Daily Wager" campaign under which it has raised ₹25 crore from corporates and individuals.

"We have already distributed more than 100,000 ration kits (to the same number of daily wager families) in more than 20 cities as of now," said Goyal, adding the company plans to distribute 10 lakh ration kits as part of this initiative.

(With inputs from IANS)