Flipkart Challenges India's Food Delivery Duopoly

The Bengaluru-based company has moved beyond internal testing, expanding its pilot program from a few hundred staff to over 8,000 employees. Riders sporting "Eat-in by Minutes" branding are already visible on city streets, operating through Flipkart’s logistics arm, Ekart. The service, integrated directly into the main shopping app, utilizes both the government-backed ONDC network and direct restaurant partnerships to build its catalog.

Sagar Daryani, president of the National Restaurant Association of India, suggests this entry offers a necessary alternative for the industry. While incumbents Zomato and Swiggy typically charge restaurants commissions of 20% to 25%, Flipkart has reportedly proposed a base rate near 10%. With additional advertising and promotional costs often pushing total platform expenses to 50% of an order’s value, restaurateurs are watching closely to see if Flipkart can maintain a leaner model.

Despite the competitive pricing, the path ahead remains steep. Bernstein analysts note that Zomato and Swiggy serve up to 95 million paying customers annually, and previous efforts by Amazon, Google, and Uber to crack the market ended in failure. Flipkart plans to transition from its Bengaluru pilot to a public launch by late October, with expansion into five or six additional cities slated for the end of the year. Whether these efficiencies can overcome the deep-pocketed discount strategies of the incumbents remains the central question for the retailer's latest expansion effort.