Bigbasket eyes challenging the established players like Swiggy’s Snacc, Blinkit’s Bistro, and Zepto Café
As competition heats up in the country’s rapidly expanding quick-commerce sector, Bigbasket, the Tata-backed online grocery platform, is set to roll out 10-minute food delivery services across India by the end of the current financial year (FY26).
The company’s co-founder, Vipul Parekh, confirmed the expansion to Reuters. With this move, Bigbasket will go head-to-head with established players like Swiggy’s Snacc, Blinkit’s Bistro, and Zepto Cafe, which already offer rapid delivery of coffee and ready-to-eat snacks in under 15 minutes.
Targeting customers from leading food delivery platforms such as Zomato and Swiggy, Bigbasket also aims to tap into a broader audience of new users, Parekh said.
The company will leverage its network of dark stores, small warehouses located in densely populated neighbourhoods, to power the service and solidify its presence in what Blume Ventures’ Indus Valley report describes as India’s “fastest-growing industry segment.”
Bigbasket, a pioneer of online grocery delivery in India since 2011, currently operates around 700 dark stores. It plans to scale this number to between 1,000 and 1,200 by the end of 2025.
Following a successful pilot launched a month ago in Bengaluru, the company will expand its food delivery service to 40 dark stores by the end of July. At present, around 5 to 10 per cent of customers who have access to the service are combining ready-to-eat food items with their usual grocery orders, a figure that is expected to grow, according to Parekh.
The food offerings will feature products from Starbucks and Qmin, the culinary arm of Indian Hotels Company, both of which are part of the Tata Group. Bigbasket clarified it does not plan to partner with external restaurants for this service.
In response to media speculation about potential fundraising efforts, Parekh dismissed reports of seeking external investors.
He reaffirmed BigBasket’s intention to go public within the next 18 to 24 months, noting, “One of the advantages of being part of the Tata Group is access to sufficient internal capital.” (With Reuters Inputs)
