India's e-commerce companies are rethinking their super-app strategy as quick commerce gains prominence. According to reports from Mint, Flipkart is rolling out a standalone app for its quick-commerce business to select users, ahead of a wider launch expected before its festive-season sale. Swiggy had earlier launched a separate app for Instamart and its food delivery offerings Toing and Snacc, while Eternal continues to operate Blinkit and District separately from Zomato.
Quick commerce has evolved from being an extension of grocery delivery into a much larger business for several consumer companies. As reported by Mint, Instamart accounted for nearly 17% of Swiggy's operating revenue in FY26, up from 14% in the previous year. Blinkit generated 70% of Eternal's operating revenue in FY26. Meanwhile, Flipkart Minutes, which launched two years ago, has grown 4x year-on-year and expanded to more than 1,200 dark stores across 150 cities.
The super-app strategy has struggled in India despite clear business potential. According to Mint, the challenge lies in India's different digital infrastructure compared to China. While Chinese platforms built many services within their own ecosystems, India developed common digital infrastructure such as UPI and Aadhaar that allowed different companies to build services without needing to control the entire customer journey. This made it easier for Indian consumers to move between specialized apps, making the super-app model less effective.
The shift does not necessarily mean companies are abandoning their main apps entirely. As reported by Mint, Swiggy has retained Instamart on its main platform even after launching a standalone app, allowing it to retain benefits of its broader ecosystem while giving quick commerce a separate destination. This approach could be less about choosing between a super app and multiple apps, and more about using both depending on the service and its users, according to Satish Meena, analyst at market research firm Datum Intelligence.
The growing importance of quick commerce could make the multi-app strategy more common across India's consumer internet businesses. According to Mint, for Flipkart, the main app could remain a broader shopping destination, while Minutes can focus on quick and immediate purchases. The same logic could eventually apply to other large platforms and services, with Meena suggesting that Flipkart's move could prompt other players such as Amazon to consider a separate app for Amazon Now, or at least create a dedicated widget that takes users directly to the service.
