Sometime in 2021, as the Covid-19 pandemic raged, I got to know about an ecommerce outfit that was starting 10-minute delivery of groceries and other everyday items. In an informal chat, its representatives asked me if that would make for a story in the media.
Back then, the idea of 10-minute deliveries seemed to be a harmless amusement. And catchy as hell. I thought it was like having a talking puppy. Would it be of much use? Probably not. But it would be wonderful to have one. I was sure it would make for a story.
Besan and banana, as I wrote in these pages in March last year, were not exactly life-saving supplies. But, it can be argued, besan and banana do not get converted into lifesaving drugs if they are delivered in half an hour, or the next morning. The point is about the service and whether it scratches any itch in the consumer’s brain, reasonable or otherwise, and if that gratification is strong enough to mount a business on.
As it happened, India became perhaps the only country to see the rise of quick commerce, which has created at least three highly valued outfits. It worked by responding to the needs and wants of the new consumer, who is not in the habit of weekly or monthly shopping. They order on impulse and want it delivered quickly, even if it means placing several orders in the course of a day—or night. They are not interested in a trek to the convenience store, rummaging through shelves, and enduring the checkout queues. They don’t want the experience of buying the thing, they just want the thing—and if it gets delivered in 10 minutes, the kicks come free.
It works in India because in the top cities of the country the density of consumers is crazy high. A high-rise complex in Gurugram can have as many potential consumers as an entire town in a large but thinly populated country. And India has cheap labour. A short delivery dash can be done for a few rupees, compared to a few dollars in the United States.
The 10-minute delivery, which is how quick commerce first began to capture public imagination, also became a story and continues to be told to this day. But now the plot gets a regulatory twist.
The recent debate over whether 10-minute delivery was necessary, evil, a necessary evil, or just evil led to the government telling quick commerce companies to do away with the promise of 10-minute delivery. In the preceding days, the startup bros had come out as a pack to argue the harmlessness of quick commerce and to illustrate that it was just the magic conjured by dark stores, and not by harried and hapless drivers. In the immediate aftermath of the government directive, many people heaved a sigh of relief, some claimed victory, and another group said it was nothing but optics that left the real issues of safety unaddressed.
In this brouhaha, some questions remain. What happens to 10-minute delivery as a branding and business plank? Is 12-minute delivery just as effective? What about the government’s role in business? Some vocal people have come forward to say this violates the avowed principle of minimum government. However, the same people say nothing when companies say government support is critical for the rise of electric vehicles in India.
Amid this bark and byte, will the puppy continue to talk?
Suveen SinhaEditor, Forbes IndiaEmail: suveen.sinha@nw18.comX ID: @suveensinha
First Published: Jan 23, 2026, 17:37
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