Albinder Dhindsa, head of Blinkit and incoming Group CEO of Eternal, said on Wednesday (January 21, 2026) that a strong quick commerce business cannot be built on the back of heavy discounting.
The remarks came as rivals Swiggy Instamart, IPO-bound Zepto and Flipkart Minutes introduced free deliveries and scrapped platform and handling fees in Q3 FY26 to drive up volumes and capture a larger share in the quick commerce market.
“The way the competitive intensity affects us is in the form it comes in. Last quarter, we saw competitive intensity getting amped up because a lot of competitors went to lower minimum order values (MOVs) and zero delivery fees. But we’re also seeing a lot of discounting happening in the market,” Dhindsa told analysts in an earnings call.
“If these tactics start impacting our business, we would need to respond, and that might impact our margins,” he said in a shareholder letter.
While Blinkit resisted matching discounts in the past, it dropped its delivery charges in some markets last week as continued aggressive pricing by rivals began impacting its market share, Zomato CFO Akshant Goyal said.
“In the last quarter, we didn’t see these freebies impacting our market share too much, and hence, we sustained our pricing. However, last week, we dropped our delivery charges in some markets because we saw some impact,” Goyal said during the post-earnings call.
“Overall, there is definitely an impact of competition. It impacts our margins, top-line growth, store expansion plans, among other things,” he noted.
Despite increasing competitive intensity over the past few months, Blinkit turned adjusted EBITDA positive for the first time in Q3 FY26. It reported an adjusted EBITDA profit of Rs 4 crore during the quarter, compared to a loss of Rs 156 crore in Q2 FY26. The profitability was driven by several factors, including supply chain efficiencies, a favourable shift towards long-tail categories and operating leverage, as the platform transitioned to an inventory-led model.
How is shifting to owning inventory helping Blinkit scale?
Blinkit shifted to an inventory-led model in Q2 FY26, moving away from its previous marketplace set-up. The transition to owning inventory was nearly completed in the December quarter, with nearly 90% of net order value (NOV) or sales coming from this format.
The shift to direct inventory management gives Blinkit a structural advantage over rivals such as Swiggy, Zepto, Flipkart and Amazon. That’s because these players are majority-owned by foreign entities, which invites stricter oversight under India’s foreign direct investment rules for e-commerce.
By taking the role of direct seller, Blinkit is able to avoid regulatory friction and has greater control over product selection, pricing and delivery.
Blinkit’s NOV surpassed that of Eternal’s food delivery vertical, Zomato, yet again. In Q3 FY26, the quick commerce platform reported a…
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