Amazon, Flipkart aim for delivery-in-minutes

Hello, this is Priyanka Salve, writing to you from Singapore.

Welcome to the latest edition of  “Inside India“ — your one-stop destination for stories and developments from the world’s fastest-growing large economy.

India’s 15-minute delivery boom is reshaping one of the world’s fastest-growing e-commerce markets. The service, expected to account for nearly 40% of online retail sales in the country by 2030, is currently led by local players, but Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart are mounting an aggressive challenge. The stakes extend beyond growth — they’re fighting to stay relevant in a market that’s redefining consumer expectations.

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Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart, the e-commerce giants that once ended the dominance of physical retail stores in India, were late to enter the quick commerce space but are now mounting an aggressive challenge against the sector’s incumbents.

E-commerce companies are not just chasing market share in a new format – they need to offer quick commerce services to remain relevant to consumers, experts told CNBC, adding that India is an important long-term growth market where they need to tap into shifts in consumption habits.

So, during Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy’s visit to India last week, quick commerce was undoubtedly in focus.

On June 24, Jassy visited a micro fulfilment center in Mumbai and said in a post on X that the global e-commerce major now has ambitions to become India’s “largest delivery-in-minutes network.”  

On its app, Amazon Now in India is offering cash back of up to 25% for the first five orders and waiving platform fees and delivery charges as it seeks to rapidly onboard customers and deepen adoption of the service.

The U.S company plans to offer Amazon Now services in more than 300 cities, compared to Blinkit, which is India’s dominant quick commerce company with more than 2,200 dark stores serving over 200 cities as of March 2026.

The other challenger, Flipkart, also said last week that its quick service offering, Minutes, has over 1,000 micro fulfilment centers across more than 130 cities.

“For Amazon and Flipkart, this isn’t simply about entering another retail format — it’s about ensuring they remain relevant if instant fulfilment becomes the preferred mode of e-commerce,” Aakash Agrawal, associate director at Anand Rathi Investment Banking, told CNBC.