Zomato begins grocery delivery in 80 Indian cities, extends paid Gold memberships by two months for free

After initial hiccups, Zomato has started grocery delivery in over 80 Indian cities with supplying essentials and is set to launch takeaway service in Australia and Portugal to support restaurants, its CEO Deepinder Goyal said on Tuesday.

He said that all proceeds from the Zomato Gold subscriptions in April would go towards supporting restaurant workers in need and the users will get an additional year of Gold free.

"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.

The food delivery platform has extended all paid Zomato Gold memberships by two months at zero cost. This will be valid across India, the UAE, Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, Lebanon, Turkey, New Zealand, Portugal and Qatar.

The company's "Feed the Daily Wager" initiative has raised Rs 25 crore from individuals and corporates.

"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," informed Goyal, adding the company plans to distribute 10 lakh ration kits as part of this initiative.