Opinion · Ecommerce
Why quick commerce profits still look uneven
Blinkit turns operating profit while Zepto and others post heavy losses; subsidy cuts and policy costs decide who scales into festive demand.
The Desk · 22 Sep · 4 min read
Search the desk
7 stories for “policy”
Retail
Zudio ordered to pay ₹30,000 over carry-bag fee
Karnataka consumer commission rules ₹10 bag charge unfair; value fashion chain faces fresh scrutiny on extras.
Meera Iyer · 24 Aug · 4 min read
Opinion · Payments
The free-UPI era was always borrowed time
Charging merchants was inevitable once volumes turned the rails into critical national infrastructure.
The Desk · 22 Aug · 4 min read
Retail
The kirana did not get digitised. It got a QR and a delivery problem.
Five years of "empower the unorganised retailer" left a sticker on the glass and the order going to a dark store. Here is what actually changed.
Meera Iyer · 19 Aug · 7 min read
Retail
JioMart's weapon is not grocery. It is the rest of the house.
A conglomerate that can discount data, delivery, and dal in one bill is not playing the same game as Zepto. That is the point, and the risk.
Meera Iyer · 15 Aug · 6 min read
Payments
PhonePe is a payments company that wants to be a switch. Those are different jobs.
UPI made a giant. The next decade is whether that giant is a surface, a lender, or the rails themselves.
Kabir Menon · 12 Aug · 7 min read
Platforms
ONDC had a quiet year. That might be the good news.
The protocol did not kill Amazon. It also did not die. India's public digital commerce layer is settling into the unglamorous job: being a pipe some apps use.
Rhea Kapoor · 11 Aug · 6 min read