Amazon, Flipkart aim for delivery-in-minutes

Hello, I am Priyanka Salve, writing to you from Singapore.

Welcome to the latest edition “in india“ — your one-stop source for stories and developments from the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

India’s 15-minute delivery boom is reshaping one of the world’s fastest-growing e-commerce markets. The service, which is expected to account for around 40% of online retail sales in the country by 2030, is currently dominated by local players, but Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart are mounting an aggressive fight. The risks go beyond growth; They are struggling to stay relevant in a market that is redefining consumer expectations.

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By offering sub-15-minute delivery or fast commerce, companies in India have accomplished something remarkable: They’ve disrupted the biggest disruptors. But the fight is not over yet.

Amazon And WalmartE-commerce giants Flipkart, which once put an end to the dominance of brick-and-mortar retail stores in India, was late to enter the express commerce space but is now mounting an aggressive challenge against the industry’s incumbents.

On June 24, Jassy visited a micro-fulfillment center in Mumbai and said in a post on X that the global e-commerce giant is now India’s “largest delivery network in minutes”

Amazon Now in India offers up to 25% cashback on the first five orders on its app and is waiving platform fees and delivery charges as it aims to onboard customers quickly and deepen adoption of the service.

The US company plans to offer Amazon Now services in 300+ cities, compared to Blinkit, which is India’s dominant flash commerce company with 2,200+ dark stores operating in 200+ cities by March 2026.

Fellow rival Flipkart also said this last week: fast service offer, MinutesIt has more than 1,000 micro-fulfillment centers in more than 130 cities.

“For Amazon and Flipkart, it’s not just about getting into another retail format; it’s about ensuring they stay current in case instant fulfillment becomes the preferred e-commerce mode,” Aakash Agrawal, associate director, Anand Rathi Investment Banking, told CNBC.

Express commerce is a post-pandemic phenomenon in India that started with delivery of fresh produce and FMCG goods in less than 15 minutes, but has slowly expanded to include smartphones, small electronic appliances, beauty products, pharmacy and more.

It has restructured consumer habits to prioritize delivery of online products in minutes rather than days. Food delivery companies are as follows: Forever And FastAlthough startup Zepto is credited with being the first company to launch express commerce in 2021, it was among the first to expand in this space in India with its localized logistics networks.

Amazon is also being established 100 urban fulfillment centers will stock clothing, electronics, jewelry, shoes, luggage, watches, wireless accessories, musical instruments and furniture for quick commercial orders.

According to Bain & Company’s April report, India “global leader” e-commerce is rapidly adopting commerce, with approximately 17% of gross product value flowing through these platforms.

The report stated that by 2030, the express commerce opportunity in India is expected to increase sixfold compared to 2025, reaching between 65 and 70 billion dollars, and that this will constitute 40% of total online retail sales in terms of gross volume and almost half of incremental sales.

Both Amazon and Flipkart are already riding the express commerce adoption spree in India and are expected to take market share from rivals with weaker financial profiles, experts said.

“Prime members triple their shopping frequency once they start using it [Amazon Now]Jassy said in his post, adding that express commerce is now the “fastest growing e-commerce business unit in India” for the company.

A Flipkart spokesperson told CNBC that the e-commerce firm has seen a sharp rise in the adoption of express commerce outside metro cities, and that Gen Z is the “fastest growing group” and accounts for 40% of its customer base.

Experts said the competitive intensity of the flash commerce market has increased with the entry of Flipkart and Amazon, adding that this market will shrink to two to three companies in the next few years as the cash burn ends.

Eternal’s flash trading platform, Blinkit, is the only flash trading company to prove profitability at the operating level in the last two quarters. IT reported Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were 370 million rupees ($3.8 million) in the March quarter, compared to 40 million rupees in the previous quarter.

“Our view is that Blinkit will definitely be one of these two or three players,” Aditya Soman, senior research analyst at CLSA India, told CNBC’s Inside India on Tuesday.

But there is wide open for two more winners in the fast trading race.

Amazon adds new funding, taking India AI and cloud investment to $48 billion
Amazon plans to invest another $13 billion to expand its AI and cloud infrastructure in India, taking its total investment in the country to $48 billion between 2026 and 2030. These funds will be used to expand AWS data center capacity in Mumbai and Hyderabad.