Industry experts note that high prices and hidden charges have limited order volumes, and these new models aim to expand the market by targeting customers hesitant to order due to costs

India’s food delivery sector is seeing a renewed focus on value amid intensifying competition, slowing discretionary spends, and pressure to expand beyond premium urban users, signalling the onset of a new price-led battle in the food delivery ecosystem.

Food and delivery major Swiggy has launched a ₹99 Store on its app to offer affordable meals as food delivery platforms look to reignite demand in a market where order volumes have largely plateaued. The move comes at a time when food delivery firms are under pressure to expand beyond premium users and increase the frequency of orders.

“What is happening in food delivery is because of the pricing. The pricing is much higher than the restaurant’s pricing. Second, there are add-on charges and all of this combined together is not allowing customers to order more. That’s why your food delivery orders are not growing in terms of volume,” noted Satish Meena, adviser at Datum Intelligence.

Meanwhile, bike taxi platform Rapido has begun piloting its food delivery service, Ownly, in Bengaluru, positioning itself as a low-cost, restaurant-friendly alternative to incumbents like Swiggy and Zomato. Rapido is not charging commissions and has adopted a transparent delivery fee model.

Orders exceeding ₹400 incur a delivery charge of ₹50 plus 18% GST (₹59), which is fully borne by the restaurants. For orders between ₹100 and ₹400, restaurants again pay the full delivery fee of ₹29.50. For orders under ₹100, the fee is shared—customers pay ₹23.60 while restaurants pay ₹11.80, resulting in total delivery revenue of ₹35.40 for Rapido on low-value orders.

“Their entry could shake up the current food delivery landscape. The zero-commission model, along with pricing transparency, is something restaurants have been asking for,” said Pranav Rungta, Vice President, National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI). “What they’re trying to do is grow the market by targeting customers who haven’t yet ordered online regularly due to high prices and hidden charges.”

On Swiggy’s part, the ₹99 Store is seen as a strategic response to this changing dynamic. Instead of discounting existing dishes, the company is asking partners to create specific low-price SKUs by tweaking portions and packaging.

“Swiggy is targeting the same customer segment as Rapido—value-conscious users—but it’s also looking to create a separate category without disturbing its core pricing,” Rungta said. “It’s a way to protect margins while still expanding reach.”

Both platforms appear to be focusing on volume rather than margins, hoping that affordability will attract new users and drive repeat orders. Whether this recalibration leads to sustained growth or further strain on unit economics remains to be seen.

Author Credits- Jyoti Banthia
THE HINDU business line

Bike-taxi platform Rapido is set to enter India’s food delivery space with a pilot launch of its new offering, Ownly, in select Bengaluru neighborhoods including Koramangala, HSR Layout, and Sarjapur over the next 8–10 days. The company plans to gradually expand to 10 cities by July 2025, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Backed by investors like Prosus, Nexus Venture Partners, and WestBridge Capital, Rapido is aiming to disrupt the food delivery sector — just as it did with ride-hailing — by offering restaurants a significantly lower commission structure (8-15%), compared to the 16-30% typically charged by industry incumbents Zomato and Swiggy.

A Partnership-First Approach

In a bid to differentiate itself, Rapido is in the process of signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with restaurant associations to set clear expectations from the start. As part of this partnership model, Rapido is reportedly open to sharing customer data with restaurants — a long-standing demand in the industry that Zomato and Swiggy have largely resisted.

Restaurants, in return, have been asked to maintain lowest cart-level pricing on Ownly across all platforms and avoid excessive packaging charges. Rapido has also requested that restaurants offer 4-5 menu items under ₹150, aligning with its vision of creating a budget-friendly, sub-₹150 meal segment.

No Platform Fees — At Least for Now

While Rapido currently does not plan to levy platform fees, discussions are ongoing about setting an upper cap if such fees are introduced in the future. The goal, according to a restaurateur familiar with the discussions, is to build a more collaborative and sustainable ecosystem than the one that evolved around existing players.

Industry Reaction & Challenges Ahead

The pilot comes at a time when growth in India’s food delivery space is showing signs of plateauing. A recent BNP Paribas research note expressed skepticism, stating Rapido’s low commissions could be “below the variable cost per delivery”, raising concerns about long-term sustainability.

The note also questioned whether Rapido’s existing fleet of drivers — primarily serving taxi and bike-hailing needs — can effectively double as food delivery partners, given the distinct logistics, bags, and operational models involved.

Interestingly, Swiggy, a direct competitor, is also an investor in Rapido. Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety recently remarked that surviving and scaling in the food delivery space has historically proven challenging, even for giants like Uber, Ola, and Amazon, all of whom eventually exited or scaled back their ambitions.

“There were a dozen players in food delivery in 2015… It’s not easy to get an opening that you can take a home run with,” Majety said, while adding that innovation and agility will continue to be key.

Looking Ahead

Rapido’s Ownly is still in its early stages, but its low-cost, restaurant-first approach, coupled with lessons from its ride-hailing journey, could present an interesting alternative in India’s crowded food delivery space.

The next few months — particularly in Bengaluru — will be critical in determining whether this model can be scaled sustainably and meaningfully challenge the Zomato-Swiggy duopoly.

News Credits- Startup STORY

Shares of Nike and other apparel makers rose on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had struck a trade deal with Vietnam that would impose a lower-than-expected tariff rate on many imports from the Southeast Asian country.

After months of negotiations, Trump’s trade deal with Vietnam includes a 20% tariff on imports from Vietnam, lower than the initial 46% rate he had announced in April.

Apparel makers have been diversifying production away from China to Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia, as Trump’s reciprocal tariffs on imports from these countries proposed in April raised concerns over supply chain costs and higher product prices.

“Investors may be looking at this as a sign that many of the threatened tariffs (on Vietnam and other countries) will be rescinded,” Morningstar Research analyst David Swartz said.

The deal also includes a 40% levy on transshipments from third countries. Trump said in a post on Truth Social that Vietnam would provide the U.S. with greater market access, with no tariffs on U.S. exports into Vietnam.

Nike’s shares were up nearly 3.6%, Under Armour rose 2.3%, and Levi Strauss gained 1.6%. Shares in Gap and Abercrombie & Fitch were up less than 1%.

According to the company’s annual filing, Vietnam manufactured about 50% of the total Nike brand footwear in fiscal 2024. North America is Nike’s largest market in terms of revenue.

Tariffs could add about $1 billion to its costs, but Nike expects to fully mitigate the impact over time, it said last week.

Shares of electronics retailer Best Buy were up marginally. The company had factored in Trump’s base tariff rate of 10% in its annual forecast in May.

“The transshipping aspect is an important wrinkle, but I’d expect suppliers will quickly move to adjust supply chains to avoid paying that hefty duty,” said Matthew McCartney, analyst at Wedbush Securities.

“Bigger picture, this deal brings clarity to the industry for a critical consumer electronics hub and eliminates some downside risk to Best Buy’s outlook.”

The companies — including Nike, Adidas, Puma and Levi Strauss — did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

News Credits- FASHION NETWORK

A shareholder in India’s Nykaa (FSNE.NS) Hong Kong-based investor Harindarpal Singh Banga and his family, plan to sell stake worth 12.84 billion rupees ($149.93 million) in the beauty products retailer through a block deal, news portal NDTV Profit reported on Wednesday.

The sale will likely be at a 4% discount to Nykaa’s current market price, the report said, citing people aware of the development.

Nykaa’s shares closed 2.2% higher at 211.59 rupees. The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Banga, who invested in Nykaa before it went public, owned 4.97% stake in the company as of March 2025, exchange data showed. He pared some of his stake in August last year, selling 40.9 million shares via a bulk deal.

The Indian market logged $5.5 billion worth of secondary market sales by large shareholders of listed companies last month, according to LSEG data. These include Reliance Industries’ (RELI.NS) stake sale in Asian Paints (ASPN.NS) and British American Tobacco’s $1.5 billion stake sale in ITC (ITC.NS).

($1 = 85.6420 Indian rupees)

News Credits- Reuters