According to latest data from CLSA, Flipkart Minutes has overtaken Swiggy Instamart in dark stores across India's top 10 cities, marking a significant shift in the competitive quick-commerce landscape. As of August 2026, Flipkart Minutes operates 627 dark stores compared to Swiggy Instamart's 615 stores across these key markets. The report also notes that Flipkart Minutes has surpassed Instamart in terms of pincode coverage in these cities, highlighting the rapid expansion of competition in India's quick-commerce sector. Blinkit continues to hold the top position with 969 dark stores, followed by Zepto with 828 stores, while BigBasket operates 497 stores across the same markets. The Walmart-owned platform has also surpassed Instamart in pincode coverage across the same markets, with CLSA noting that within the top 10 cities, Flipkart Minutes has already surpassed Swiggy Instamart in both dark-store count and pincode coverage.
Swiggy Instamart announced the launch of global lifestyle retailer MINISO on quick commerce starting August 21, 2026, marking the platform's expansion beyond traditional grocery and household staples. According to reports from Mint, consumers in key metropolitan cities can now order over 90 MINISO products and have them delivered in just 10 minutes. This collaboration represents MINISO's first foray into the quick commerce space in India, with the initial catalogue heavily targeting Gen Z and millennial shoppers through IP-led merchandise. Charmaine Chan, Vice General Manager of MINISO India, stated that the partnership brings well-designed, high-quality and value-for-money lifestyle products closer to consumers across India with greater speed and convenience. The partnership is facilitated by Opptra, MINISO's digital commerce distribution partner in India, enabling the retailer to leverage quick-commerce logistics for rapid market penetration without relying solely on traditional mall footfall.
The partnership enables instant purchase of products featuring characters from globally recognised franchises including Harry Potter, Hello Kitty, My Melody, Kuromi, BT21, and Disney's Stitch. As reported by Mint, the assortment spans multiple categories including bags and accessories, stationery and art, kitchen and dining items, and toys and collectables. The range includes everyday essentials such as backpacks, water bottles, tiffin boxes, and stationery, alongside IP-led merchandise featuring globally recognised characters and franchises across bags, notebooks, mugs, plush toys, and other lifestyle accessories. MINISO's designs are known for combining function with a distinct, youthful aesthetic, bringing the same quality and design sensibility to customers without the wait typically associated with lifestyle and accessory shopping.
The latest CLSA data reveals that collectively, these five companies operate 3,536 dark stores across the markets covered by the report, with Blinkit accounting for about 27% of the dark stores across the 10 cities tracked. Blinkit maintains the highest number of stores in six of these cities, while Zepto leads in three of the other four markets. The cities tracked include Bengaluru (735 facilities), Delhi (531), Hyderabad (484), Mumbai (372), Chennai (365), Pune (293), Kolkata (248), Gurgaon (225), Lucknow (146), and Ahmedabad (137). In Bengaluru, the most contested market, Blinkit leads with 180 stores narrowly ahead of Zepto's 177 stores, followed by Instamart at 143 stores, Flipkart Minutes at 119 stores, and BigBasket at 116 stores. CLSA identified this as a potential risk, flagging the risk of under-utilization of incremental dark stores leading to worse-than-expected adjusted Ebitda losses in its outlook for Swiggy.
According to CLSA, the brokerage remains more optimistic about Eternal, the parent company of Blinkit, than Swiggy. The brokerage has set a target price of ₹506 for Eternal, representing a potential upside of 53.5% from its August 25 closing price of ₹329.60. For Swiggy, CLSA has set a target of ₹312, which is about 8.7% higher than its closing price of ₹286.90. The companies' latest results show what is at stake in the competitive landscape. Blinkit has begun translating scale into operating profit, reporting revenue of ₹15,664 crore and an adjusted Ebitda profit of ₹102 crore in the June quarter, its fifth straight quarter of improvement, with net order value up 86% to ₹17,132 crore and 2,443 stores. Instamart's revenue rose 53% to ₹1,232 crore, but it still posted an adjusted EBITDA loss of ₹778 crore, while Zepto doubled its fiscal 2026 revenue to ₹22,623 crore but its net loss widened 26% to ₹5,905 crore.
