Two Sharp with ET: Food safety shock hits Blinkit, Zepto; rare-earth crisis rattles auto sector
Zomato's Blinkit and Zepto are under fire as FDA raids expose expired goods and hygiene issues, shaking investor confidence. Meanwhile, a rare-earth export squeeze from China halts car production at Ford and Suzuki. India faces food safety fears at home and supply chain tremors abroad. All of this in today's Two Sharp with ET.
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Business Standard
2 hours ago
- Business Standard
LEGO® India and Blinkit Celebrate World Play Day with a Click and a LEGO® Brick
VMPL New Delhi [India], June 11: This World Play Day, LEGO® India is turning up the fun! In a special partnership with quick-commerce platform Blinkit, LEGO® sets are now available for instant delivery across 20+ cities in India. To make moments of creativity even more accessible and joyful for families across India, Blinkit is offering exciting LEGO® sets, including LEGO® City F1 Driver with McLaren Race Car, LEGO® Creator Mighty Dinosaurs, Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance Pull-Back, LEGO® Disney Princess Twirling Ariel Building Set & Fantasy Toy Model and many others. The partnership launched with a social media campaign on Instagram highlighting the importance of play and encouraging audiences to rediscover creativity through quick, playful moments, made accessible with Blinkit. The LEGO® Group is also running a contest on the occasion of World Play Day on June 11, where participants can build and share their Play Day moment to win LEGO® Sets! The campaign brings alive the brand's vision of learning through play by enabling instant access to LEGO® Sets and inspiring builders of all ages to embrace the power of imagination. Play Has No Age Limit At the heart of the campaign lies a simple message: play is for everyone. The LEGO® Group's Play Well report shows that 76% adults in India recognise that play is something they wish they were doing more often, & over 4 in 5 parents wish they could play more as a family, whether you're 7 or 70, There is a LEGO® set for everyone and Blinkit ensures that the joy of building, one brick at a time, is never too far away. The two brands are achieving this through strategic homepage placement that positions LEGO® sets alongside daily essentials, making creative play as accessible as ordering groceries. Blinkit's quick delivery network means that inspiration can be acted upon immediately - a parent can order a LEGO® set during their child's afternoon nap and have it delivered before they wake up. The platform's curated selection focuses on toys, ensuring the right building experience is available for every skill level and interest. Whether it's a quick build between meetings or a family session on the weekend, the experience of play is now just a few taps away. "At The LEGO® Group, we believe that play is essential to learning, creativity, and connection," said Bhavana Mandon, Country Manager, LEGO® India. "World Play Day is a reminder that play is a powerful tool that helps children and adults express themselves, solve problems, and bond with each other. This campaign is a celebration of those everyday moments that have the potential to unlock big ideas. By making play more accessible and spontaneous, we hope to encourage more families to build, imagine, and connect through the joy of LEGO® sets." Build your moment of play. Discover the LEGO® collection on Blinkit today: About The LEGO® Group The LEGO® Group's mission is to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow through the power of play. The LEGO® System in Play, with its foundation in LEGO® bricks, allows children and fans to build and rebuild anything they can imagine. The LEGO® Group was founded in Billund, Denmark in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen, its name derived from the two Danish words Leg Godt, which mean "Play Well". Today, the LEGO® Group remains a family-owned company headquartered in Billund. Its products are now sold in more than 120 countries worldwide. For more information:
Time of India
5 hours ago
- Time of India
10-minute delivery boom fuels hyperlocal warehousing surge in urban and tier-2 cities
HighlightsThe demand for hyperlocal warehouses in India is outpacing supply, driven by quick-commerce platforms such as Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, and BigBasket Now aiming to deliver products within 10-15 minutes. As quick-commerce companies expand, they are repurposing underutilized spaces like old neighborhood shops and defunct service apartments into efficient micro-fulfillment centers, which are essential for meeting the growing consumer demand for rapid delivery. Industry experts predict that India will require over 12 to 15 million square feet of small-format warehousing space in the next three years to support the projected growth of the quick-commerce sector, which is expected to reach $5.5 billion by 2025. The booming quick-commerce (Q-commerce) segment in India is fueling a rapid rise in demand for small, hyperlocal warehouses outstripping the supply. As platforms like Blinkit , Zepto , Swiggy Instamart , and BigBasket Now race to fulfill deliveries within 10-15 minutes, last-mile fulfillment centers—tucked into basements, small plots, and underutilized urban properties—are becoming critical infrastructure across metro cities and Tier-2 locations. According to experts, the demand is three times that of the new wave of hyperlocal warehouses—often no larger than 2,000 to 8,000 sq ft— located within dense residential neighborhoods. Additionally, underutilized spaces – such as old neighbourhood shops, defunct service apartments, and ground-floor office spaces – are being converted into highly efficient and profitable micro-fulfilment hubs. This 'The strategic repurposing allows the establishment of a dense network of hyper-local fulfilment centres, bringing inventory closer to the customer than ever before. This model not only optimizes delivery times to within minutes but also significantly reduces last-mile logistics costs, making quick commerce economically viable and scalable in densely populated urban environments,' said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman & CEO - India, South-East Asia, Middle East & Africa, CBRE The business model behind quick delivery is based on rapid inventory turnover and proximity to the customer base. As a result, companies are leasing multiple, small-format spaces instead of large centralized hubs. Each warehouse typically serves a radius of 2-3 km, enabling delivery within 10-12 micro-fulfillment centers stock fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), fresh produce, snacks, and beverages that can be delivered within minutes of order placement. Additionally lack of financial visibility for landlord and large corporates are making it difficult to attract a complaint property. According to J P Morgan, Zomato-owned Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart are accelerating the pace of dark store network expansion, while the IPO-bound Zepto is slowing down. It had earlier said in 2024 that the total count of dark stores will reach 700 March 2025. A recent research note from a global brokerage firm said that both Blinkit and Instamart added over 150 dark stores during the January-February period, while Zepto experienced a slowdown in its dark store additions. The brokerage estimates that Blinkit currently operates the largest dark store network in the country, with approximately 1,229 stores, surpassing Zepto, which has 1,147 dark stores. Additionally, these companies have reportedly reduced the average delivery time to under 10 minutes in over 70% of their active zones. 'Q-commerce companies are not just tenants anymore; they are now driving demand and influencing micro-markets,' says Vijay Ganesh, Managing Director, Industrial & Logistics Services, Colliers India . 'We are witnessing increased lease activity in areas like Andheri (Mumbai), Koramangala (Bengaluru), and Kukatpally (Hyderabad), where even ground-floor retail and idle parking spaces are being converted into dark stores.' While metros remain the hotbeds of Q-commerce activity, the next wave of growth is firmly taking root in Tier-2 cities such as Jaipur, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Lucknow, and Surat. Improved digital penetration, rising disposable income, and consumer demand for convenience are driving expansion beyond the traditional top six cities. Coimbatore and Indore are seeing a spike in short-term leases for 1,500–3,000 sq ft units. These aren't just warehousing deals—they are hybrid agreements with retail landlords looking for steady rentals in high-footfall areas. Local developers and real estate investors in these cities are increasingly converting underutilized properties into rentable dark store formats. In Jaipur, for example, a former banquet hall near Mansarovar was recently repurposed into a 24/7 fulfillment hub for a grocery delivery firm, generating a 20% higher rental yield than its previous use. As India's first integrated supply chain infrastructure platform, IndoSpace has set up its first such format–INLOGIS Chembur—a 150,000 sq. ft in-city warehousing hub in Mumbai. IndoSpace is scaling this model across major metros to unlock proximity, reduce delivery times, support hyperlocal fulfilment, and power the future of last-mile logistics. ' 'Designed for high-efficiency delivery with features like cargo elevators, EV charging, and solar panels, it caters to the surging quick commerce market projected to triple by 2027. With unit sizes from 5,000 to 35,000 sq. ft, INLOGIS enables rapid service to over half of Mumbai', said a source. The rise of hyperlocal warehousing is also subtly impacting rental dynamics in urban pockets. Rents for ground-floor spaces in residential-commercial mixed-use zones have jumped by 10-18% in key micromarkets since 2023, according to Knight Frank. 'We believe the future of urban logistics lies in Grade-A in-city warehousing and micro fulfillment centers,' said Vamsi from Sumadhura. 'With the Q-commerce boom driving demand for over over 10 dark stores per cluster in some metros, there's a clear need for optimized, compliant, and scalable urban logistics hubs. We are seeing strong traction for shared 3PL platforms, and our goal is to build flexible, multi-tenant spaces that enable this shift. By embedding hygiene, safety, and automation-readiness from day one, we aim to offer long-term value to operators. Our investment case shows these hubs can deliver returns on par with top-tier commercial assets,' Vamshi Karangula Vice President Sumadhura Group According to experts, demand for hyperlocal warehouses is poised to grow in tandem with the Q-commerce sector, which is projected to reach $5.5 billion by 2025, according to RedSeer Consulting. Industry estimates suggest that India may require over 12–15 million sq ft of small-format warehousing space in the next three years to meet delivery demand from urban and Tier-2 consumers. For developers, especially in land-constrained metros, this opens up a new monetization avenue. Even older commercial buildings, retail stores, and standalone houses can be repositioned as revenue-generating micro-hubs. 'Dark stores thrive on speed and efficiency, typically holding just 2–3 days of inventory to meet rapid order turnover. Their ability to pay higher rentals is driven by location—delivery time and household reach matter more than size. With limited organized supply, many are set up in repurposed residential, retail, or workshop spaces across cities,' said Chandranath Dey , India Head - Operation & Business Development, Logistics & Industrial, JLL. As the 10-minute delivery race heats up, India's real estate sector is not just enabling the change—it's being transformed by it. Quick-commerce platforms initially focused on groceries, fresh produce, and essentials are now diversifying their offerings to include electronics and personal care items, among other products."
Time of India
7 hours ago
- Time of India
Rapido's food delivery entry unlikely to dent duopoly, say brokerages
Rapido's foray into food delivery through a pilot in Bengaluru is unlikely to materially disrupt the entrenched duopoly of Zomato and Swiggy, multiple brokerages said in separate notes, citing the operational complexity, capital intensity and customer experience challenges inherent to the business. TOI reported on Monday, Bengaluru-based Rapido is currently preparing to launch its food delivery service with a fundamentally different pricing structure, choosing flat fees over traditional percentage commissions charged to restaurants. The move positioned the ride-hailing firm as a challenger to Zomato and Swiggy at a time when small restaurant owners are increasingly vocal about rising aggregator costs. Rapido plans to charge a fixed Rs 25 on food orders below Rs 400 and Rs 50 for those above. These charges are flat fees deducted from the order value, paid by the restaurant to Rapido. Bernstein's Rahul Malhotra noted that while Rapido plans to leverage its over 3 million rider base and charge lower take rates, 'new entrants have been unsuccessful in the past.' Malhotra cited prior attempts by Amazon, Ola and ONDC that failed to scale due to limited restaurant selection, fragmented supply, and weak customer experience. He added that India's food delivery market, dominated by Zomato and Swiggy with 54% and 46% market shares respectively, has become operationally complex with over 200,000 to 300,000 restaurants, posing high barriers to scale for new players. Elara Capital's Karan Taurani acknowledged Rapido's cross-utilisation model, where its rider network may reduce incremental capital expenditure. However, Taurani warned that 'the absence of a dedicated fleet may compromise the delivery experience, especially with rising sub-30 minute delivery expectations.' Elara's sensitivity analysis suggested that even a moderate impact from Rapido could lead to a 6% cut in the target price of Eternal (Zomato), should revenue growth or valuation multiples weaken due to pricing pressures. HSBC analysts Yogesh Aggarwal, Prateek Maheshwari and Sagar Desai pointed out that while the underlying cost structures of two-wheeler ride-sharing and food delivery are similar, scaling food delivery demands sustained execution. They argued that "customer experience, ability to execute, and achieving scale remain key challenges" for Rapido. The analysts also flagged that long-term industry growth is already moderating, with most of the incremental demand expected to come from higher order frequencies rather than significant customer base expansion. Kotak Institutional Equities, in its sector alert, described Rapido's entry as having 'no immediate impact' on the incumbents. It reiterated that Zomato and Swiggy have built significant operational moats in logistics, customer loyalty, and dense restaurant partnerships, making material share shifts unlikely in the near term. Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
