Swiggy escalates India quick-commerce battle with 10-minute meals

Swiggy, India’s leading food delivery startup, said Friday it has started to deliver meals in 10 minutes across parts of major cities, intensifying the quick-commerce race in the world’s second-largest internet market.

The Bengaluru-headquartered startup, which is targeting to go public in about a month, said it has partnered with more than 2,700 restaurants, including global chains KFC, McDonald’s, and Starbucks, to deliver meals to customers within 10 minutes.

The service, called Bolt, focuses on quick-to-prepare items and operates within a 2-kilometer radius of customers. Swiggy’s head of food delivery, Rohit Kapoor, said the service aims to reduce wait times for frequently ordered items like coffee, burgers, and biryani.

“Ten years ago, Swiggy revolutionized food delivery by cutting average wait times to 30 minutes. Now we’re reducing that wait even further for frequently ordered items,” he said in a statement.

Bolt is live in key locations across Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune, said Swiggy, which competes with publicly listed Zomato.

The launch intensifies competition in India’s fast-growing quick-commerce market, which has grown by more than 100% in a year. Zomato’s Blinkit, Instamart (Swiggy’s quick-commerce offering), StepStone-backed Zepto, and Tata-owned BigBasket are changing the way millions of Indians shop, training consumers to expect instant gratification for an ever-expanding range of products.