What Zomato’s results make loud and clear: food delivery in India has hit a wall

The quick commerce euphoria has done well to mask the grim reality of the food delivery business, once billed as Zomato’s core value proposition.

It seems like a conversation that the startup ecosystem is actively trying to avoid. That the Indian food delivery business is not what it was made out to be and that there may be something fundamentally limiting about it.

It’s an understandably difficult conversation too. If we look back, it wasn’t that long ago that this business was perceived as a sunshine sector—one that spawned two unicorns in Zomato and Swiggy. Over the past decade, the two companies, in their own right, followed and sold the vision of a changing economy, tech adoption and a younger workforce that has no …

Author

Harveen Ahluwalia

Harveen is a co-founder at The Morning Context, and leads our Internet coverage, overseeing a team of reporters writing on startups and tech. She has previously worked as a media, consumer and tech reporter at The Ken and Mint. At The Morning Context, she writes on startups, venture capital, consumer and media businesses—from e-commerce to healthtech to streaming.

Editor, Internet

harveen@mailtmc.com

Mumbai