Delivery in a dash? On govt nudge, quick commerce firms begin dropping 10-minute promise; experts say it won’t hit business

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: In a bid to ensure safety of delivery partners and reduce pressure created by aggressive delivery timelines, govt has urged quick commerce companies to stop branding of "10-minute" delivery services. The nudge has had impact with some firms dropping timelines as their main pitch.

Blinkit and Instamart have removed the claim and changes by some other companies will reflect soon.





Quick commerce platforms have built their billion-dollar businesses on premise of delivering products in 10 minutes, with e-commerce players like Amazon and Flipkart being slow off the blocks.

Labour minister Mansukh Mandaviya met quick commerce platforms last week. "Amidst concerns over security of gig workers, the minister discussed greater safety and improved working conditions for delivery partners. Companies were nudged to move away from ultra-fast delivery branding practices. No official order has been issued, but we are positive regarding compliance by platforms," an official told TOI.

Mandaviya’s meeting came days after gig workers sought to launch protests on several issues, including the removal of 10-minute delivery promise and higher payouts.

Eternal, the parent company of Blinkit, said that there was no change in the platform’s business model which could have any material impact on the company.

“The labour minister is not against the business model but he wants the companies to tone down their advertisements claiming 10-minute deliveries. When the promise of 10-minute delivery goes away, the delivery partners will not come under pressure and consumers will also not have any grievances if their orders do not reach them in 10 minutes,” said an industry executive aware of the discussions.

Analysts reckon that the removal of the 10-minute delivery catchline is largely optics-driven, rather than business-altering, and no impact on business is seen.


The actual delivery timelines shown on quick commerce apps are dynamic, driven by dark-store distance, traffic conditions, weather and real-time rider availability, said Karan Taurani, vicepresident at Elara Capital.