‘Quick commerce battle only getting tougher,’ says Swiggy CEO

The quick commerce category continues to remain a very highly competitive segment in a multi-player market, and the increasing competition has only made it clearer to us that increasing our staying power and doubling down on our differentiation is the only path to winning in the medium term, Sriharsha Majety, Swiggy Co-founder, MD and Group CEO said in his letter to shareholders.

Swiggy's gross order value (GOV) grew 68.8% y-o-y to Rs 7,881 crore in Q4, and its net order value growth was at 60.3% to Rs 5,675 crore (sequential growth at 4%). It has increased the total darkstore area to more than 4.8 million sq ft (+21.1% YoY), with the net addition of 7 darkstores to reach 1,143 stores across 129 cities.

Also, its average order value grew 33% y-o-y to Rs 700, led by sustained non-grocery selection mix and larger-basket buying behaviour across user cohorts.

On the near and medium term growth outlook for the quick commerce business, the platform highlighted the nature of competitive intensity at play in the sector.

"The medium term opportunity in this sector remains very attractive, and we see ourselves well placed to appropriate a large share of the industry growth from here, having achieved sustainable unit economics. We see ourselves growing to over 1 lakh crore net order value business with 4-5% EBITDA over the medium term," the platform said.

Quick commerce is a crowded space as categories with large TAMs, clear consumer love, and growing penetration will always attract capital and competition.

However, as we take a closer look, while many players are indeed participating in the category, some differences do start becoming apparent.

There is a set of players that either already occupy or intend to occupy higher salience in the convenience retailer archetype, and there is another set of players that are now aiming for the price-led/value-led retailer archetype, Swiggy said in its earnings commentary.

Talking about the shortage of gig economy workers, the platform said, "We are navigating a significant confluence of the peak harvest season and major state elections, which has triggered a temporary but widespread migration of the gig workforce over the last four weeks that has constrained delivery partner supply across the entire industry. We have seen a momentary increase in our promised delivery times across some cities due to the above and have had to make some hard choices on demand throttling via surges and long-distance calibration of serviceability in high-demand areas."

Swiggy expects the situation to start normalising over the next couple of weeks. The platform on Friday posted a narrowing of consolidated net loss to Rs 800 crore for the quarter ended March 2026. It had reported a loss of Rs 1,081 crore in the year-ago period.

Its revenue in the fourth quarter stood at Rs 6,383 crore, a 45% increase compared to Rs 4,410 crore in the same quarter last year.

Swiggy’s Food Delivery business GOV growth accelerated to 22.6% y-o-y, to Rs 9,005 crore.

"Food delivery has grown at its strongest pace in nearly four years, crossing Rs 1,000 crore in annual adjusted EBITDA and defying scepticism around a sector slowdown, with meaningfully better margins than a year ago. Out of home continues to be a profitable and growing part of the business," said Majety.

"In quick commerce, the next phase will be defined by anticipating consumer needs, not merely fulfilling them. Unit economics continue to improve quarter on quarter, and we remain on track for contribution margin break even in line with our guidance. The strong balance sheet gives us room to be disciplined and deliberate as we enter FY27," he added.