Walmart-backed Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart is gearing up to challenge the country’s entrenched food-delivery duopoly of Zomato and Swiggy, entering a fiercely competitive arena that has previously defeated high-profile attempts by global giants like Amazon and Google.
The Bengaluru-based e-commerce powerhouse has been aggressively testing its food-delivery service internally. According to sources familiar with the matter, the trial has rapidly expanded from an initial pool of a few hundred employees to upward of 8,000 corporate and warehouse staff. To support the upcoming public launch, Flipkart has also deployed a dedicated fleet of riders through its in-house logistics arm, Ekart. This delivery force operates entirely separate from the couriers handling the company’s quick-commerce operations, signaling a serious and structured operational commitment to the new vertical.
Currently visible only to employees, the food-delivery service appears as a dedicated tab on Flipkart’s primary shopping application, sitting alongside its "Minutes" quick-commerce offering and travel-booking options. The platform sources restaurant inventory through a dual approach: it integrates dining partners listed on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)—a government-backed initiative designed to connect buyers and sellers seamlessly across various digital platforms—while also directly signing up independent restaurants.
Out on the streets of Bengaluru, the southern technology hub where Flipkart is headquartered, couriers wearing distinct jerseys bearing the "Eat-in by Minutes" branding have already been spotted fulfilling test orders.
The push into food delivery places Flipkart directly into a rapidly expanding sector. Industry estimates from brokerage firm Bernstein indicate that India’s online food delivery market is growing at an annual rate of 18% to 20%. Despite this robust growth, online delivery still accounts for a modest share, representing just over 15% of India’s broader food-services industry. Meanwhile, Zomato—owned by Eternal—and Swiggy collectively serve an estimated 85 million to 95 million paying customers annually, according to Bernstein data. This massive consumer base underscores both the formidable dominance of the two incumbents and the vast runway available for new entrants in the world’s most populous nation, which boasts more than a billion internet subscriptions.
Flipkart is far from alone in seeking to disrupt the status quo. Ride-hailing firm Rapido, which has previously mounted stiff competition against Uber and domestic rival Ola, has been scaling up "Ownly," its own food-delivery service that promotes a zero-commission model for restaurant partners. Concurrently, Swiggy has introduced "Toing," a separate application specifically designed to cater to budget-conscious consumers seeking more affordable meal options. Both strategic moves highlight mounting industry-wide pressure on the conventional pricing models and the steep commissions historically levied on restaurants.
Reflecting on the industry landscape, Sagar Daryani, president of the New Delhi-headquartered National Restaurant Association of India—an organization representing over 500,000 restaurants nationwide—did not mince words about the current market structure.
"Monopoly is bad, but duopoly is more pathetic," Daryani said, noting that what one platform initiates, the other invariably follows. He added that the restaurant community has long sought viable alternatives to the two dominant players.
While Flipkart’s entry is notable, it is not the first heavily capitalized corporation to attempt cracking India’s food-delivery code. In May 2020, Amazon launched its own food-ordering service starting in Bengaluru, only to shutter the enterprise two years later in late 2022. Similarly, Google’s Areo app, which offered food ordering alongside various home services, failed to gain meaningful traction in the market. Uber similarly retreated from the sector in March 2020, opting to sell its entire Uber Eats business in India to Zomato for $206 million.
Industry observers, however, point to a fundamental operational difference in how Flipkart is approaching the challenge. Zomato and Swiggy established their market dominance by building dedicated food-delivery networks first, only later expanding into quick commerce and grocery delivery. Flipkart is executing the inverse strategy, leveraging its massive, established e-commerce infrastructure and rapidly scaling quick-commerce operations as a sturdy springboard into prepared food delivery.
"Flipkart’s quick commerce benefit will get passed on to food delivery, so it will be leaner, more efficient," Daryani told TechCrunch, highlighting the synergistic potential of shared logistics and supply chains.
For restaurants, the primary allure of a new competitor lies in the promise of reduced operational costs. Daryani, who also serves as the co-founder and CEO of popular dumpling chain Wow! Momo Foods, revealed that Flipkart has proposed a base commission of approximately 10%. This figure is notably lower than the 20% to 25% commission rates typically demanded by Zomato and Swiggy.
Beyond base commissions, restaurants face substantial ancillary expenses. When advertising expenditures, mandatory discounts, and promotional fees are factored into the equation, dining establishments can end up spending between 40% and 50% of an order’s total value on the established platforms. Daryani anticipates that Flipkart’s operational model could keep the total cost closer to 15% to 16%, allowing restaurants to retain a significantly healthier margin on every transaction.
Securing restaurant partnerships, however, represents only half the battle; winning over consumers accustomed to the existing duopoly presents a distinct hurdle. Bernstein estimates that new market entrants might only be able to save customers roughly 20 to 30 Indian rupees per order through operational efficiencies. Such modest savings may prove insufficient to sway loyal users away from Zomato and Swiggy, particularly if the incumbents respond by deploying aggressive, deeper discounts to protect their market share.
Flipkart’s immediate geographic ambitions extend beyond its home base. The company has informed prospective restaurant partners of its intention to transition the food-delivery service from its current employee-testing phase to a public launch by the end of October. Furthermore, the company aims to scale the service to five or six major Indian cities before the close of the year, according to Daryani.
This strategic expansion unfolds against a backdrop of uncertainty regarding Flipkart’s long-anticipated initial public offering. Chief Executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy recently declined to provide a definitive timeline for an IPO, even as the firm aggressively expands into high-frequency consumer categories designed to draw users back to its application on a daily basis.
The broader e-commerce ecosystem in India is witnessing a convergence of retail categories. Quick-commerce platforms that initially built their business models around delivering groceries in a matter of minutes have evolved to ship high-value discretionary items, including the latest iPhones, directly putting them on a collision course with traditional e-commerce giants like Flipkart and Amazon.
Flipkart did not respond to requests for comment regarding its upcoming food-delivery rollout.
