Swiggy Cites Quick Commerce Growth Hit by Irrational Rivalry and Bulk Order Shifts

Swiggy has reported pressure on the growth trajectory of its quick commerce business Instamart, citing competitive intensity and internal order mix changes during the October–December 2025 quarter. 

Competitive Pressure and Order Mix Impact 

The company said order and gross sales growth at Instamart were affected by what it described as “irrational” competition, along with cannibalisation linked to its bulk-ordering programme Maxxsaver. According to Swiggy, this trend was more visible in low AOV segments, as customers increasingly shifted towards larger basket sizes. 

In a letter to shareholders, Swiggy stated, “Order-growth in the past couple of quarters had been impacted as a result of Maxxsaver-led cannibalisation (as customers built larger carts) and weaning away of low-AOV orders. This was amplified in Q3 by competitive action, which we chose to not participate in.” 

Financial Performance of Instamart 

Instamart’s operating losses widened to ₹908 crore during the October–December 2025 period, reversing a brief improvement seen in the September quarter.  

Despite this, the 10-minute delivery platform reported a gross order value of ₹7,938 crore, reflecting a 103% year-on-year increase. Total orders during the quarter rose 45% to 106.4 million. 

Swiggy added, “As competition is high (and some of it is irrational), our growth at the bottom of the AOV-pyramid has been slower. Despite this, Instamart continued to grow GOV at over 100% YoY for the fourth consecutive quarter.” 

Pricing Actions and Sustainability Concerns 

After rival Zepto reduced customer fees in November, Swiggy implemented similar measures for larger cart sizes.  

However, the company said these steps delivered “limited success due to continued irrationality in competitive activity across pricing and monetisation levers”.  

Swiggy said it chose not to pursue inducement-led volume growth, stating, “We have chosen to not participate in fuelling such behaviour, thereby choosing to forego such inducement-led volume gains. This may therefore have a near-term impact on underlying volume growth.” 

The company also noted that very low-AOV orders offer limited monetisation potential and said it has “consciously avoided creating customer behaviours which are purely discount-seeking and / or basket-breaking”. 

Read More: Swiggy Integrates ChatGPT, Gemini and Other AI Tools for Food and Grocery Delivery! 

Swiggy Share Price Performance  

As of January 30, 2026, at 9:50 AM, Swiggy Ltd share price is trading at ₹306.55 per share, reflecting a decline of 6.44% from the previous closing price. Over the past month, the stock has declined by 22.21%. 

Conclusion 

While Instamart continued to post strong year-on-year growth in gross order value, Swiggy said competitive dynamics and strategic choices around pricing and order mix weighed on order growth and contributed to higher operating losses during the quarter. 

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