While food delivery platform Swiggy has addressed queries regarding grocery deliveries after a user accused the company of underweighting their Instamart package, concerns still loom over the quality of fresh produce sold by e-commerce platforms in India.

What is the ‘underweight delivery’ issue?
Recently, after a consumer posted on Reddit claiming they had received ‘underweight’ groceries from Swiggy’s quick commerce venture Instamart, it sparked a conversation online. After the user decided to weigh the vegetables, they discovered that instead of the 1850 grams of vegetables originally ordered, what they received only 1280 grams worth. The user claimed that Swiggy’s customer support and escalation team refused to replace the items and persistently insisted on a partial refund, observing that it tried to “play smart with words” instead of fulfilling the requirements.

While their issue was resolved, the customer cautioned others against blindly trusting the weight stickers on fresh groceries and falling for discounts. “Do actually check them and raise complaint when deviation is observed”, they added.

Fallout on social media
Swiggy also received flak from several other social media users stating that the platform keeps pulling “shady, manipulative tricks”. Users also alleged that the platform consistently underweighs groceries as a standard practice. “They’re probably raking in crores every single day from these ‘small errors”, the user claimed.

However, others also noted that the incident could be an error owing to a particular local warehouse that Instamart works with. Likewise, Sachin Taparia, founder of consumer community platform LocalCircles, dismissed the possibility of such a system. He explained, “This is a one-off, not a systemic issue. I don’t believe there is any organised malpractice”.

How did Swiggy respond?
MediaNama reached out to Swiggy with the following additional questions:

• How do you verify the accuracy of product weights before they are delivered to consumers? What measures are in place to ensure that products meet the promised specifications (weight, quality) listed on your platform?
  
• How are consumer complaints about underweighting or discrepancies in orders handled? Are refunds or compensations provided?
  
• Are suppliers or delivery partners involved in any way that could lead to such discrepancies? What accountability measures are in place for them?
  
• Can you provide any data on how frequently such incidents have occurred and actions taken in those cases?
• How do you plan to rebuild trust with consumers following such accusations?
  

In response, MediaNama received the following statement:

“At Swiggy Instamart, merchants undergo a thorough vetting process before they are onboarded, which includes verifying certifications such as FSSAI. Once onboarded, they are mandated to ensure that all supplies are subjected to rigorous quality checks and any shipment that doesn’t meet the criteria is completely rejected.

This particular instance is an anomaly by the merchant, and we are investigating how it happened. We take customer feedback seriously, and the issue has been resolved with the customer. Customer trust is our top priority, and we remain fully committed to upholding the highest standards of transparency to ensure such instances do not occur.”

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