Walmart-owned Flipkart is set to enter India’s online food delivery sector with a Bengaluru pilot, offering significantly lower commissions to attract restaurants amid stiff competition from Zomato and Swiggy.
Flipkart is preparing to enter India’s online food delivery market with a pilot in Bengaluru by mid-August, marking a fresh push beyond e-commerce and quick commerce, according to CIOL. The Walmart-owned company is reportedly planning to charge restaurants a commission of 10% to 11%, a level well below the 25% to 35% often associated with larger delivery platforms, in a bid to win merchants before trying to win over diners.
That strategy comes as restaurants across India have grown more vocal about the economics of food delivery. Industry reports say Flipkart has already begun onboarding eateries in Bengaluru and is considering how the service should be packaged, including whether it should sit inside the main shopping app, launch as a separate app or use the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce, known as ONDC. Business Standard previously reported that the company had been weighing a Bengaluru pilot earlier in the year, with a broader rollout possible if the first phase performed well.
Reports from Kotak Neo and other outlets suggest Flipkart is studying both a standalone platform and an ONDC-led model as it prepares to test the market. That approach would place it into direct competition with Zomato and Swiggy, which dominate India’s food delivery sector and have spent years building delivery fleets, loyalty programmes and dense restaurant networks. Estimates cited by industry publications put the market at about $9 billion.
The company’s entry also fits a broader pattern in Indian digital commerce, where major platforms are trying to keep customers inside larger ecosystems for longer periods. Flipkart launched Minutes in 2024 and now appears to be adding another high-frequency service that could increase repeat use among its more than 500 million registered users. Still, as several reports note, lower commissions may help attract restaurants, but execution, delivery reliability and customer habits will decide whether the company can become a serious challenger.
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