India’s quick commerce market is booming, with demand more than doubling for some players. But the fast-delivery push by Flipkart and Amazon is raising the stakes in an already crowded space where profitability remains under pressure. Flipkart, one of India’s largest e-commerce players, entered quick commerce later than local rivals such as Blinkit, Swiggy, and Zepto.
But it has now crossed more than 800 dark stores (distribution centers for online shopping) this week, TechCrunch has learned, and is looking to double that by the end of 2026, according to UBS. The expansion comes as India’s quick-commerce sector enters a more intense phase of competition. Recent developments include the departure of a co-founder at Swiggy this week.
The sector is also seeing companies reassess strategy amid rising competition and costs. The Walmart-owned company debuted in quick commerce with Flipkart Minutes in August 2024, offering deliveries across categories in as little as 10 minutes. Since then, the sector has expanded rapidly.
More than 6,000 dark stores are now in operation, leading to significant overlap among players in major cities and intensifying competition, Bernstein said in a report earlier this week. Flipkart’s network in India remains smaller than that of market leader Blinkit, which has over 2,200 dark stores, according to Bernstein. However, Flipkart is betting on expanding beyond major cities to drive growth.
This is unlike Blinkit, which plans to scale to 3,000 dark stores by 2027 while focusing on its top 10 cities. Orders per dark store have also grown about 25% month-on-month, the person said. However, growth in quick commerce remains concentrated in larger cities.
Most demand, Bernstein said, continues to be driven by big cities, where higher population density supports faster deliveries and better utilization of dark stores, even as expansion into smaller towns gathers pace. That dynamic also underpins profitability. The top eight cities in India account for over 3,800 dark stores operated by the five largest players, with about 3,600 of them having the potential to be profitable, according to Bernstein.
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