Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Photo credit: Grant Miller for the George W. Bush Presidential Center, under Creative Commons license

As indicated by a notice from the West Bengal State Beverages Corp, the authorized agency that oversees online sales of liquor in the Indian state of West Bengal, Amazon has apparently won approval to begin selling alcohol online in India, having been found eligible for registration with authorities. Amazon is said to have been previously invited to sign a memorandum of understanding as regards online alcohol sales in the state of West Bengal and appears to have reached a final deal. Delivering alcohol in India seems like a bold move by Amazon to tap into a market estimated to be in tens of billions in the country. Alongside Amazon, Indian grocery delivery startup BigBasket looks to have also won a permit to begin delivering alcohol in West Bengal.

West Bengal is notably India’s fourth most populous state, with about 90 million residents, and within those tens of millions of residents likely lies a sizeable market for online alcohol sales. Amazon already has big e-commerce operations in India and is raging a battle with numerous competitors, most notably Flipkart. Tapping to alcohol sales to then boost business doesn’t seem startling. India is one of Amazon’s key growth markets, with the company having committed $6.5 billion in investments in the country. Online alcohol sales — to legal-age buyers — seem to be part of that commitment and more so a commitment that could reap sizeable rewards.