Rapido's food delivery platform Ownly is betting that cheaper food delivery, not higher commissions, will be the next growth driver for India's online food delivery market. According to Mint, Aravind Sanka, Rapido's co-founder and head of Ownly, stated that the key metric the company is chasing in the near term is bringing more customers online and onboarding more restaurants rather than focusing on gross order value (GOV). The five-month-old company's zero-commission model, which it intends to maintain even as the platform scales, represents a significant departure from incumbents Swiggy and Zomato, who have increasingly focused on improving profitability through higher order values, advertising and subscription programmes. Sanka explained that affordability should drive higher repeat purchases, ordering frequency and retention, making conventional metrics such as GOV less relevant for a platform that does not charge restaurant commissions.
Ride-hailing firm Rapido has officially merged its standalone food delivery platform Ownly into its primary mobile application, enabling users in Bengaluru to order food while booking bike taxis, autos, and cabs on the same platform. According to latest reports, customers can now order food from Ownly directly through the Rapido app alongside booking rides. The integration positions Rapido to cross-sell food delivery to its existing monthly active users, representing a strategic move to compete directly with established players like Swiggy and Zomato. Ownly currently partners with nearly 20,000 restaurants and was launched earlier this year through a pilot in Bengaluru, with the platform having already built meaningful scale since its citywide rollout in March. The integration makes the service available to Rapido's mobility users, not just those who download the standalone app, significantly expanding its reach.
The platform operates on a zero-commission model, charging restaurants a flat subscription fee to be listed on the platform instead of commission on each order. This represents a significant departure from Swiggy and Zomato, whose take rates run at roughly 21.9% and 24.4% respectively, among the highest globally compared to peers like China's Meituan. Sanka explained that Ownly's philosophy is to make a small amount of money on every order rather than make a lot of money on a few orders, arguing that simply extracting more value from each transaction rarely defines long-term economics. By folding Ownly into the main Rapido app, the company now exposes the food delivery service to its entire pool of monthly active users while continuing to run deliveries through its existing rider network. The integration leverages Rapido's logistics network built over a decade of ride-hailing operations, providing a cost advantage that most food delivery entrants simply don't have.
The integration is expected to expand Ownly's reach by giving it access to Rapido's existing customer base and logistics network. According to Business Standard, Ownly could operate with structurally lower logistics costs by using Rapido's existing rider network, making the model sustainable without passing additional costs on to restaurants. The company is using its existing logistics network to offer better delivery efficiency by planning to use the same rider fleet for transport and food deliveries, which is expected to help reduce logistics costs and enhance rider utilisation during non-peak mobility hours. Rapido is providing promotional incentives, including 50% discount of up to ₹100 on first orders placed through Ownly as part of the rollout, with users who prefer the standalone experience still able to access the dedicated Ownly app through Rapido. Sanka noted that Ownly is not currently considering subscription programmes because, unlike larger rivals, it does not have multiple revenue streams to subsidise memberships, though advertising could become a revenue stream, though it is unlikely to be significant.
India's online food delivery sector is expected to reach nearly $27 billion by 2030 from $9.1 billion in 2024, growing at a 19% CAGR, according to a May 2026 report by Investec Equities, driven less by new user additions and more by higher order frequency and tier-2 penetration. Aravind Sanka stated that food delivery still has room to add first-time online customers and restaurants underserved by existing platforms, acknowledging industry concerns that India's food delivery market is nearing saturation. Following a pilot in Koramangala and HSR Layout before expanding citywide in March, Sanka said repeat rates and ordering frequency are running above industry averages, while some restaurant partners already derive a meaningful share of their online business from Ownly. The company has no plans to abandon its standalone identity, with Sanka explaining that consumers associate Rapido with mobility while food remains a distinct habit, and the main app primarily serves as a low-cost customer acquisition channel.
