Flipkart may be planning to challenge Zomato and Swiggy with food delivery business

Flipkart, the Walmart-owned e-commerce major, is preparing to take on the long-standing food-delivery duopoly of Zomato and Swiggy. The move marks an entry into a highly contested sector that has previously seen tech titans such as Amazon and Google attempt to break in without success. The Bengaluru-headquartered platform is currently piloting the food-delivery service internally, expanding its team from a few hundred workers to more than 8,000 employees, a report has claimed.Citing people familiar with the matter, a report by TechCrunch claimed that to support the planned commercial rollout, Flipkart has assembled a dedicated fleet of delivery riders through its logistics division, Ekart. This delivery pool operates separately from the couriers managing its quick-commerce vertical.In-app integration and ‘Eat-in by Minutes’ brandingThe closed, employee-only service is integrated directly into Flipkart’s primary smartphone application, the report said, adding that it sits as an independent tab alongside the platform’s Minutes quick-commerce vertical and its travel booking portal. To power the catalog, Flipkart is tapping into two distinct restaurant pipelines:First is merchant listings accessed via the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), the government-backed open framework designed to link digital buyers and sellers across multiple platforms. And the second, local food outlets and dining establishments boarded directly by Flipkart.In Bengaluru, delivery personnel sporting uniforms with “Eat-in by Minutes” branding have already begun fulfilling trial meal orders across city streets, the report said.A fast-growing sector with room for new entrantsFlipkart is stepping into a food-delivery landscape that brokerage firm Bernstein estimates is expanding at 18% to 20% annually, the report said. Despite this growth, digital ordering still represents just over 15% of the total food-services market in India.The sector's leaders, Zomato (owned by Eternal) and Swiggy, currently cater to a combined base of 85 million to 95 million paying users each year, according to Bernstein data. While highlighting the firm grip held by the two companies, the metric underscores significant headroom for expansion in a country with over a billion internet subscriptions.Meanwhile, there are competitors that are experimenting with lower fees and budget-focused models:Rapido: The bike-taxi and ride-hailing company is scaling up Ownly, a food-ordering service operating on a zero-commission model for restaurants.Swiggy: The incumbent platform rolled out Toing, an independent application focused specifically on affordable, everyday meal options.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.