Walmart-owned Flipkart is preparing to enter India's competitive food delivery market, seeking to challenge the dominant players Zomato and Swiggy. The company has quietly expanded its internal food delivery test from a few hundred employees to over 8,000 and is deploying a dedicated fleet of delivery riders under its logistics division, Ekart. This new service, branded "Eat-in by Minutes," is accessible via a separate tab on Flipkart’s main shopping app and leverages both restaurants listed on the government-backed ONDC platform and those Flipkart signed up directly.

India’s food delivery sector is rapidly growing, estimated to expand between 18% to 20% annually, but online orders currently make up just over 15% of the overall food services market. Zomato and Swiggy dominate with approximately 85 to 95 million paying customers yearly, underscoring the challenges newcomers face. Flipkart’s approach differs from previous entrants like Amazon and Google, who attempted to build from scratch and exited after struggling against the entrenched duopoly. Instead, Flipkart aims to leverage its successful e-commerce and quick-commerce businesses as a springboard into food delivery, potentially offering a leaner and more efficient model.

Flipkart’s entry is generating optimism among restaurants eager for alternatives to the high commission rates charged by the current market leaders, which can reach 20% to 25% of order value, and even more when advertising and promotions are included. The new service reportedly proposes a base commission near 10%, potentially reducing overall costs for restaurants to around 15% to 16%. While lower prices could attract restaurant partners, winning over consumers remains uncertain given the incumbents’ scale and ability to offer deep discounts to retain loyalty.

The company plans to publicly launch the service by the end of October and expand to five or six cities across India by the close of 2026, starting from Bengaluru where it is headquartered. Flipkart’s expansion into food delivery coincides with competitive pressures in India’s broader e-commerce space, where quick-commerce platforms are increasingly moving into new categories, intensifying rivalry with Flipkart and Amazon. Meanwhile, Flipkart’s IPO timeline remains unclear amid these expansion efforts.