India’s Quick Commerce Apps Transform Shopping with Fast Delivery

In Mumbai, which is India’s big financial city, there are many “dabbawalas” who have been delivering home-cooked food to office workers for many years. These workers like to avoid the hot weather and traffic jams by getting fresh food brought to them. Now, across India, young business owners are taking this idea further. They have created fast shopping apps that let people order not just food and drinks but also things like clothes and iPhones — and get them within minutes.

These fast delivery apps are changing the way people shop. They are giving tough competition to big online stores like Amazon and also to small local shops that people used to visit before.

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In Mumbai, at a warehouse run by BigBasket, an online grocery company, workers move very quickly to deliver orders in just 10 minutes. These warehouses are called “dark stores” because customers are not allowed inside. When an order comes in, a worker rushes through the aisles picking items like drinks and vegetables, packs them, and gives the bag to a delivery rider. These riders are like today’s version of “dabbawalas,” which means “lunchbox men” in Hindi.

Many Indian technology companies have invested billions of rupees to build these delivery systems in big cities, helping the online shopping business grow very fast.

For many people, these apps are very helpful. They don’t have to shop outside in the hot sun, stand in long lines, or get stuck in heavy traffic.

Vipul Parekh, one of the founders of BigBasket, says this business is growing very fast — more than 60% every year for the next two to three years. He says this kind of fast growth is something never seen before.

In other parts of the world like Europe and the United States, apps like Getir and Jokr have had problems recently. The demand that grew during the pandemic has gone down, and rising prices have made customers careful about spending. But in India, sales have jumped from $100 million in 2020 to about $6 billion in 2024. Experts predict this number could reach $40 billion by 2030.

One reason for this big growth in India is that many people live very close to these dark stores — within about two kilometers or one mile. This means many customers can get fast deliveries easily.

Another reason is that India doesn’t have many big supermarket chains like other countries. This helps the quick delivery business.

Rinish Ravindra, a customer who often uses these apps, says they make him “lazy,” but he loves the convenience. He says, “I just press some buttons on my phone, and everything gets delivered to my home.”

Even though local companies are growing fast, big players like Amazon, Flipkart (owned by Walmart), and Reliance Industries (owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani) are now starting their own fast delivery services.

Satish Meena from market research company Datum Intelligence says that big companies like Amazon used to keep their warehouses outside the city, which made quick delivery hard. So now, they are building smaller warehouses or dark stores inside cities.

But with so many companies entering this market, it might be hard for all of them to survive. Rahul Malhotra from Bernstein research firm says the market might only support two or three big players, with the total business worth around $50 to $60 billion.

The quick delivery business also faces challenges from many small family shops. The Confederation of All India Traders, a group representing over 90 million small shop owners, has asked people to start a “nationwide movement” against these new apps. The group’s leader even compared these apps to the “East India Company,” the British trading company that once took over much of India.

For now, customers seem to like the quick delivery services. Ravindra says, “When I think of groceries, I think, ‘I can just order it online.’”