Uber India and Flipkart set to deliver essential supplies during Coronavirus lockdown

Amidst the ongoing Coronavirus lockdown in India that’s in effect till April 14, Uber India has inked a deal with e-commerce giant Flipkart to deliver essential goods to people. Just last week, the ride-sharing service got into a partnership with BigBasket and Spencer’s Retail to facilitate last-mile delivery options for customers in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Noida. It also launched a dedicated service for medical workers called UberMedic.

The latest deal with Flipkart allows the delivery of essential supplies and groceries across Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Moreover, Uber will not be charging any commission for these deliveries and all the order delivery fees go straight to the drivers. On regular days, these drivers have to forgo around 20-25% of their earnings in commissions, however, the outbreak of the pandemic might have offered them some respite in these regular deductions.

Commenting on the partnership, Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Flipkart, said, “This partnership is to help move essential supplies from our sellers/vendors to customers in the shortest possible span of time. Flipkart remains committed to supporting our customers and we are mobilizing all possible options to ensure that in this national fight against COVID 19, we can support the governments, by delivering essential supplies to people who are staying indoors.’’

Uber India has deployed its fleet of vehicles like UberGo, UberXL and Uber Moto to provide regular flowing access of essential supplies from Flipkart and other such retailers in different parts of the country.

While the nation-wide lockdown announced by the Indian government led to a complete standstill of on-demand cab services like Uber and Ola, using the same to deliver essential goods, medicines and groceries are permissible. Having said that, this partnership depends a lot on the extension of the lockdown period, which may or may not be likely.