Marketplaces, where our guest builds for riders

What one platform says and plans

• Customer service. Meesho said in November 2024 that its generative-AI voice bot handled 60,000 customer calls a day in English and Hindi, cut some per-call expenses by 75% and achieved a 95% query resolution rate⁶.
• Hiring and infrastructure. Meesho planned to put Rs 480 crore of its IPO's fresh-issue proceeds towards salaries for existing and new hires in its AI, machine-learning and technology teams, and Rs 1,390 crore into cloud infrastructure at its subsidiary MTPL⁷.

The market, as Bain sizes it with Flipkart

• Size. Bain & Company, in a report written in collaboration with Flipkart, said India's e-retail gross merchandise value reached $65-$66 billion in 2025⁸.
• Growth. Bain, in a report written with Flipkart, says India's e-retail market grew 19%-21% in 2025, with second-half growth of 22%-24%⁹.
• Shoppers and sellers. Bain's 2026 report, written with Flipkart, says India's online shoppers doubled to 290-300 million over five years, while sellers tripled¹⁰.
• Smaller cities. Almost 60% of India's new online shoppers since 2020 come from Tier-3 and smaller cities, according to Bain's 2025 report, written with Flipkart¹¹. The same report, written with Flipkart, says more than 60% of new sellers onboarded since 2021 are from Tier-2 and smaller cities¹².
• Quick commerce. Bain, in a report written with Flipkart, says 16%-17% of India's e-retail GMV flows through quick-commerce platforms¹³.
• Forecast. Bain, in a report written with Flipkart, projects India's e-retail market to reach $170-$180 billion in GMV by 2030, growing at more than 20% a year¹⁴.

How the big listed platforms are doing

• Meesho, listing. Meesho listed on 10 December 2025 after a Rs 5,421.2 crore IPO priced at Rs 111 a share; its shares listed on the NSE at Rs 162.50, a 46.40% premium, after the issue was subscribed 79.03 times¹⁵.
• Meesho, FY26. Meesho reported 264 million annual transacting users in FY26, up from 199 million in FY25, with 2,668 million orders and net merchandise value of Rs 41,560 crore, up 39%².
• Blinkit. Eternal reported that its quick-commerce business Blinkit had net order value of Rs 17,132 crore in April-June 2026, up 86% from a year earlier³.
• Eternal. Blinkit's parent reported consolidated revenue from operations of Rs 20,211 crore for April-June 2026, up 182% from Rs 7,167 crore a year earlier, and net profit attributable to owners of Rs 92 crore, up from Rs 25 crore¹⁶.

Startup funding

Rules and enforcement

1. Nov 2023
   Dark patterns. The Central Consumer Protection Authority's guidelines on dark patterns list 13 specific types of dark patterns prevalent in e-commerce¹⁷.
2. Aug 2024
   Competition. In August 2024 the Competition Commission of India's investigation into Amazon and Flipkart found that both had violated competition law by giving preference to select sellers and launching exclusive products, LiveLaw reported¹⁸. On 6 January 2025 the Supreme Court transferred to the Karnataka High Court the writ petitions that sellers associated with Amazon and Flipkart had filed in several High Courts against the CCI's probe; the CCI had sought to consolidate 24 petitions, a number that later rose to 26¹⁹.
3. Oct 2024
   Policy. India's draft National E-commerce Policy, published by DPIIT in 2018-19, had not been adopted as of October 2024, India Seatrade News reported²⁰.
4. Jun 2025
   Dark patterns. In a June 2025 advisory, the Central Consumer Protection Authority asked e-commerce platforms to audit themselves for dark patterns within three months and to submit declarations of compliance²¹.
5. Feb 2026
   Country of origin. Under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Amendment Rules, 2026, notified on 13 February 2026, every e-commerce entity selling imported products must offer searchable and sortable country-of-origin filters from 1 July 2026²².
6. Jul 2026
   Foreign investment. India's FDI rules permit foreign investment in e-commerce only in business-to-business and marketplace models, not in business-to-consumer or inventory-based models, apart from an export-only exception announced in July 2026²³. Under that decision, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade allowed foreign-funded e-commerce entities to run an inventory-based model exclusively for exporting domestically manufactured or produced goods, effective from the date of the FEMA notification²⁴.
7. Aug 2026
   Dark patterns. The Central Consumer Protection Authority has penalised nine digital platforms for dark patterns and collected around Rs 20 lakh in penalties, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs told the Rajya Sabha in August 2026⁵. Quick-commerce platform Zepto Marketplace was fined Rs 7 lakh for drip pricing, showing a lower price first and adding handling charges later, and for basket sneaking, adding a membership plan without clear consent²⁵.

ONDC, the government-backed open network

• Reach. India Brand Equity Foundation says that as of November 2025 the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) was delivering in nearly 1,100 cities and towns, with over 344.5 million recorded orders and more than 7.7 lakh sellers and service providers registered¹.
• Monthly retail use. Retail transactions on ONDC peaked at 6.5 million a month in October 2024 and fell to 4.6 million in February 2025, according to Inc42's analysis of ONDC's open data²⁶.