‘It's not easy…': Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety on Rapido's entry into food delivery

Time of India

25-06-2025

Speaking at an investor event organised by Prosus in London, Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety said it will be interesting to see if there is an alternate take to food delivery that can grow the category. Prosus is a common investor in Swiggy and Rapido. Also, Swiggy owns about a 15% stake in urban mobility firm Rapido.
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With Rapido looking to enter the food delivery market Swiggy founder and group CEO Sriharsha Majety said that the Bengaluru-based company remained 'agile and paranoid', ready to respond swiftly to any emerging opportunities.Responding to a question on Rapido's potential impact in the food delivery space, Majety said that while each company will chart its own course – past experience showed that surviving and scaling in the category was far from easy.He was speaking at an investor event organised by Prosus in London. Prosus is a common investor in Swiggy and Rapido. Also, Swiggy owns about a 15% stake in urban mobility firm Rapido.'There were a dozen players in food delivery in 2015. In 2017, Uber and Ola threw their hat into the ring. Then, in 2019, Amazon threw its hat into the ring. In 2021, there was the entry of ONDC,' Majety said, adding, 'Credit to us and Zomato for having seen these...and I genuinely think we do a pretty good job of serving the consumer. It is not easy to get an opening that you can take a home run with.''I think it will be interesting to see if there is an alternate take to food delivery that can grow the category because we are waiting for some more growth as well,' he said. 'We are definitely super agile and paranoid. If we see a new opening, we are going to be all over it.'On June 9, ET reported that Rapido had finalised online food delivery partnership costs and terms with restaurants. The platform is charging a fixed fee of Rs 25 on orders below Rs 400 and Rs 50 on orders over Rs 400 as commissions from the restaurants. This translates to a range of 8-15% commissions from restaurants, compared to 16-30% charged by its rivals Zomato and Swiggy.'If there's an opening, we will be out there in weeks. We will be trying our own luck with the customer to grow the category. We are not going to wait and watch,' he added. Quick commerce consolidationTalking about the various players that have emerged in the 10-minute grocery delivery space, Majety said that the estimated size of the segment a few years from now might allow more than two companies but not five to six.'At this point, the quick commerce market is headed towards a $30-40 billion size in three to five years. That size can support more than two players, but it is unlikely that it can support five to six players,' Majety said, adding that the sector could see some level of consolidation going ahead.Presently, the top three players in quick commerce—Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy's Instamart—have around 85-90% of the market share, down from 90-95% around three to four months back, as per a report by brokerage firm BofA Global Research. The remaining share is held by Tata Digital-backed BigBasket, Flipkart Minutes, Amazon Now, and Reliance Retail's JioMart The research note, ET reported on Tuesday, also said that JioMart was unlikely to become one of the top two players in quick commerce.'We can expect some consolidation...if you look at the structure of the category, there are three major players and four fringe players. There would be some consolidation, but in some cases, there may not even be a need because the legacy ecommerce players may want to continue the offering in a bid to stay relevant for their consumers...it may continue but won't really expand the pie as we're seeing already today,' Majety said.