Amazon debuts 10-minute deliveries in India
As India's $5.4 billion quick-commerce market has everyone scrambling for speed.
Amazon has spent over a decade chasing relevance in India and mostly falling short. Despite pouring billions into the country, it’s been overtaken in groceries by BigBasket, outplayed by Flipkart, and outpaced by the speed-first rise of Blinkit, Zepto, and Instamart.
Now it’s changing its strategy. The company has just launched Amazon Now, a 10-minute delivery service for groceries and daily essentials, starting in select Bengaluru neighborhoods. Quietly rolled out after a pilot in late 2024, the service is the first time Amazon is offering 10-minute ultra-fast delivery anywhere in the world.
India makes sense for this debut, as quick commerce is changing how millions shop online and is fast becoming a billion-dollar battleground. According to Statista, India’s quick-commerce market is expected to reach $5.38 billion in 2025, nearly doubling to $11 billion by 2030. Amazon clearly wants a piece of that pie.
Emmanuel Oyedeji
But it won’t be easy. The e-commerce giant is entering a space that’s already costing rivals millions of dollars to stay relevant. Blinkit, for example, says it expects a ₹178 crore (~$21 million) loss in Q4 2025, while Swiggy’s Instamart is staring at ₹840 crore (~$101 million) in losses for the same period. Both blame aggressive expansion and intense competition.
So, for Amazon, this is likely a high-stakes comeback attempt. If it wants to win over Indian consumers, it’ll need to match the speed and reliability local users have come to expect all while keeping operational expenses low enough to stay relevant and profitable.
Should Amazon Now successfully establish a presence in Bengaluru, I anticipate it will expand throughout India and potentially on a global scale. What happens if it doesn't succeed? India might remain the billion-dollar opportunity Amazon never quite figured out.
Emmanuel Oyedeji
