Swiggy’s Instamart faces 3x scale gap with Blinkit as losses hit ₹895 crore

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Swiggy’s quick-commerce NOV rises 34.8% y-o-y to ₹6,594 crore; network and economics lag Eternal’s Blinkit

By Jyoti Banthia

Updated - October 23, 2026 at 09:14 PM.

Swiggy’s quick-commerce business Instamart is growing faster, but its widening losses and a significantly smaller store network underline the challenge of catching up with rival Blinkit, which has turned profitable while continuing to expand aggressively.

Instamart’s net order value (NOV) rose 34.8 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to ₹6,594 crore in the July-September quarter, with sequential growth accelerating to 13.4 per cent from 2.5 per cent in the preceding quarter. Orders increased 29.3 per cent y-o-y to 130 million, while monthly transacting users rose 23 per cent to 14.8 million.

However, its adjusted EBITDA loss widened to ₹895 crore from ₹849 crore a year earlier and ₹778 crore in the June quarter.

The contrast with Blinkit is stark. Eternal’s quick-commerce business reported NOV of ₹20,940 crore, up 79.3 per cent y-o-y, and adjusted EBITDA of ₹184 crore. Blinkit’s order value was more than three times Instamart’s, while its network of 2,751 dark stores was over twice the size of Instamart’s 1,240 stores.

Blinkit added 308 net stores during the quarter, compared with 69 at Instamart, highlighting the difference in their expansion pace. Blinkit’s adjusted EBITDA margin also improved for the sixth consecutive quarter to 0.9 per cent of NOV.

For Swiggy, the challenge is no longer just accelerating order growth but improving the economics of each order as it scales. The company added 69 stores and invested in assortment, product availability and service quality during the quarter, while Instamart’s contribution margin stood at -1 per cent of gross order value.

Swiggy is now betting on differentiated products and a shift to inventory ownership to strengthen profitability. Its Switch proposition brings together partnerships with around 400 brands, private label No!ce and fresh-produce brand Nectr. No!ce features in one in eight baskets, with customers buying the brand showing 15 percentage points higher retention, according to the company.

The transition to an inventory-owning model is expected to begin in mid-Q3 FY27 and take two to three quarters to complete. Swiggy expects it to add about 80 basis points to Instamart’s contribution margin once fully rolled out.

Management expects sequential growth to continue in Q3, alongside operating-margin improvement. The test will be whether better store productivity, stronger retention and higher-margin assortment can narrow the gap with Blinkit without requiring an equally costly expansion cycle.

Published on October 23, 2026

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