Flipkart Tests a Run at Dinner

TechCrunch reports Flipkart has expanded an internal food-delivery trial in Bengaluru.

Flipkart, the Walmart-owned ecommerce group, is preparing a public challenge to India’s food-delivery duopoly, according to TechCrunch, which reports that the company has widened an employee-only pilot in Bengaluru from a few hundred staff to more than 8,000.

The service appears inside Flipkart’s main app as a separate tab, alongside its quick-commerce and travel offerings, TechCrunch reported. It is drawing on restaurants listed through ONDC, the government-backed network designed to connect buyers and sellers across platforms, as well as restaurants signed directly by Flipkart. The publication also reported that Flipkart has set up a dedicated rider fleet through its logistics arm, Ekart, rather than relying on the riders used for its fast-delivery business.

That matters because India’s food-delivery market has been hard to crack even for companies with money, brand recognition and existing logistics networks. Amazon shut its food-ordering service in Bengaluru after two years. Google’s Areo did not gain traction. Uber exited by selling Uber Eats India to Zomato in 2020. The market is still growing, but incumbency has been powerful.

TechCrunch cites Bernstein estimates that online delivery is growing at 18% to 20% a year, while still making up only a little over 15% of India’s wider food-services market. Bernstein also estimates that Zomato and Swiggy serve 85 million to 95 million paying customers a year. Those figures suggest both concentration and headroom: two companies dominate, but much of the country’s food spending still happens offline.

Restaurants have reason to care about any credible third entrant. Sagar Daryani, president of the National Restaurant Association of India, told TechCrunch that Flipkart has proposed a base commission of about 10%, against the 20% to 25% commonly charged by Zomato and Swiggy. He also said that once advertising, discounts and promotions are included, restaurants can end up giving away 40% to 50% of an order’s value on established platforms. Those figures come from an industry representative, not an independent audit, but they help explain why restaurants keep looking for alternatives.

Winning restaurants is not the same thing as winning diners. Bernstein estimates, according to TechCrunch, that a new entrant might save customers only ₹20 to ₹30 per order. In a market where habit, app familiarity and discounts shape behavior, that may not be enough on its own.

TechCrunch reports that Flipkart has told restaurants it expects a public launch by the end of October and expansion to five or six cities before the end of the year. For now, the clearest fact is narrower and more interesting: one of India’s biggest shopping platforms appears to have decided that groceries in minutes were not a sufficient claim on people’s attention, and that dinner might bring them back more often.