Flipkart food-delivery service coming soon, testing underway with thousands of employees

You may soon order your dinner from Flipkart. The e-commerce giant is reportedly planning to launch a food-delivery service in India, which would take on Swiggy and Zomato, as early as later this month.As per a report from TechCrunch, Flipkart has begun testing the food-delivery service, internally known as “Eat-in by Minutes.” The company is said to have begun testing in Bengaluru. The Eat-in by Minutes name likely refers to Flipkart’s quick commerce service, Flipkart Minutes.While the report states that the service may be launched by the end of this month, it is unclear if it will be available in select cities at the time of launch.India Today Tech has reached out to Flipkart for a comment. The story will be updated as and when the company responds. Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy had first confirmed that the company was working on a food-delivery service back in July this year.Flipkart testing food-delivery service with 8,000 employeesThe report adds that Flipkart is currently testing the food-delivery service via an internal employee-only trial. The trials that initially began with a few hundred employees, are now reportedly accessible to about 8,000 Flipkart staff members. It is said that the Flipkart shopping app gets a dedicated Eat-in by Minutes tab, alongside other tabs such as Minutes quick-commerce service and travel bookings. The Flipkart food-delivery service, the report states, offers restaurants listed through the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), which connects buyers and sellers across platforms, as well as restaurants signed up directly by Flipkart.To deliver the food, Flipkart has reportedly deployed a dedicated fleet through its logistics arm, Ekart. These riders are separate from those handling quick-commerce deliveries. Some riders in Bengaluru have been spotted wearing T-shirts carrying the “Eat-in by Minutes” branding, the report added.Flipkart’s entry to India’s food-delivery market comes at a time when two players, Zomato and Swiggy, continue to dominate. As per Ken Research, Zomato enjoyed a market share of 58 per cent in 2024, with Swiggy holding nearly 34 per cent. Ride-hailing platform Rapido launched its own food-delivery service, called Ownly, last year. But it remains available in limited regions.In the past, other players have also tried to break into the market, but with limited success. Uber sold Uber Eats’ India operations to Zomato in 2020, three years after it launched the service. Amazon and Google too have tried their hands on getting a piece of the pie, but both companies failed to gain traction.Though India’s food-delivery market is expected to grow. As per brokerage firm Bernstein, online delivery accounts for just over 15 per cent of the wider food-services industry. It estimates that the market is growing by 18 per cent to 20 per cent annually.- Ends