News in short

• Flipkart is testing a food delivery service in Bengaluru with more than 8,000 employees, according to a report.
• The service, branded Eat-in by Minutes, appears within Flipkart’s shopping app.
• Flipkart is using dedicated Ekart delivery riders and sourcing restaurants through ONDC and direct partnerships.
• The company has reportedly proposed restaurant commissions of around 10%, below the typical 20–25% cited for established platforms.
• Flipkart could launch publicly by October’s end and expand to five or six cities by December 2026.

India’s food delivery market could soon face another major challenger. After Amazon, Uber Eats and Google struggled to establish themselves, Walmart-owned Flipkart is preparing its own entry into the sector.

The company is reportedly testing a food delivery service in Bengaluru, with plans for a wider launch. Its entry could challenge the dominance of Zomato and Swiggy, which have shaped India’s online food ordering market for years.

However, Flipkart is entering a market where even established technology companies have struggled. Its success could depend on pricing, restaurant partnerships and the ability to attract customers from existing platforms.

Flipkart prepares to challenge Zomato and Swiggy

According to a TechCrunch report, Flipkart has expanded internal testing of its food delivery service to more than 8,000 employees.

The service appears as a separate section within Flipkart’s shopping app, alongside its Minutes quick-commerce offering. Delivery riders operating under the “Eat-in by Minutes” branding have also been spotted in Bengaluru.

Flipkart is reportedly using dedicated riders from its logistics arm, Ekart. The company is sourcing restaurants through the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and direct partnerships.

The timing is significant. Brokerage firm Bernstein estimates that India’s food delivery market is growing between 18% and 20% annually. Yet online orders account for just over 15% of the broader food services industry.

This suggests that opportunities remain for new players, despite the established position of Zomato and Swiggy.

Why previous challengers struggled

Flipkart is not the first major company to challenge India’s food delivery duopoly.

Amazon launched its food delivery service in Bengaluru in 2020 but discontinued it in 2022. Google also experimented with food ordering through its Areo app without gaining significant traction.

Uber exited India’s food delivery business in 2020 after selling Uber Eats to Zomato.

These exits highlight the difficulty of building a sustainable food delivery business. New entrants must attract restaurants, maintain reliable deliveries and convince customers to change their ordering habits.

However, Flipkart may have a different starting point.

Unlike previous challengers, Flipkart already operates a large e-commerce platform and a growing quick-commerce business. Its existing logistics infrastructure could help support food deliveries without building every part of the operation from scratch.

Could lower commissions change the market?

Restaurant commissions could become an important part of Flipkart’s strategy.

Sagar Daryani, president of the National Restaurant Association of India, told TechCrunch that Flipkart has proposed a base commission of around 10%. Restaurants typically pay Zomato and Swiggy commissions of 20% to 25%, according to Daryani.

He also claimed that advertising, discounts and promotional expenses can push restaurants’ total platform costs to 40%–50% of an order’s value. Flipkart could potentially keep these costs closer to 15%–16%, he suggested.

Lower costs could make the new service attractive to restaurant partners. However, the reported commission structure has not been publicly confirmed by Flipkart.

Another challenger, but can Flipkart attract customers?

Flipkart will also face competition from Rapido’s Ownly, which promotes a zero-commission model for restaurants. Meanwhile, Swiggy has introduced Toing to target customers seeking more affordable meals.

The bigger challenge may be changing consumer behaviour.

Bernstein estimates that more efficient operations could save customers around ₹20–₹30 per order. However, those savings alone may not persuade regular Zomato and Swiggy users to switch platforms.

Existing players could also respond with discounts and promotional offers.

According to Daryani, Flipkart has indicated plans to launch its service publicly by the end of October. The company could expand to five or six cities before the end of 2026.

Flipkart has not officially confirmed these plans.

Its entry could give restaurants and consumers another option in India’s growing food delivery market. Whether it can meaningfully challenge the existing duopoly will depend on more than lower commissions. Delivery reliability, restaurant selection and customer retention will ultimately determine its position.