September 27, 2026

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A QUICK RESET

THE COUNTRY'S QUICK-commerce market, once defined by a simple race to open dark stores closer to consumers, is entering a new phase. The race is no longer just about who can deliver in 10 minutes, open the most number of stores or capture the largest share of orders. The era of growth at all costs is beginning to give way to a more unforgiving question--who can turn scale into a business that makes money, and how many such businesses can India sustain? As of Q1FY27, Blinkit is the only major player to become EBITDA positive. EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation. Its adjusted EBITDA margin stood at 0.6%, while EBITDA per order was approximately `3. Instamart, despite improving its economics, was losing around `68 per order, while Zepto's EBITDA loss was nearly `60 per order as of Q4FY26. According to Swiggy's inputs for Instamart, there has been improvement of +`29 per order for adjusted EBITDA/order, so the loss per order has reduced considerably in last one year and its contribution (per order) has also improved the most in the industry.The gap is a reminder that the quick-commerce race cannot be judged simply by order volumes, gross merchandise value (GMV) or dark-store counts. The real test is what remains after the cost of fulfilling those orders.There is also another story playing out in the sector and there are clear signs of a reset.CHANGING DYNAMICS Global e-commerce major Amazon is stepping up its India bet, with plans to invest $48 billion through

CRYPTO REDUX

INDIANS LOVE CRYPTO. Here are some numbers to elucidate: A report by the OECD, released in June 2026, highlights that India, along with Korea, received the largest absolute flows into crypto assets in the 12 months to June 2025.Again, at last count in 2026, 50 crypto exchanges were registered with the Financial Institution Unit-India, a central agency responsible for information related to financial transactions. Ashish Singhal, Co-Founder, CoinSwitch, pegs the number of crypto investors between 70 million and 90 million, although the number of active participants will be significantly lower.Prateek Gupta, Head of Business, Mudrex, a crypto trading platform, says as per data from the finance ministry, the value of India's Virtual Digital Asset (VDA) transactions was `1,09,580 crore from FY23 to FY25, growing 131% cumulatively. While investors in the age group of 18-45 are seen to have a high risk appetite, the number of new investors in younger age groups, especially from smaller towns, continues to rise.Nischal Shetty, Founder, WazirX, says a majority of traders are in the 20-30 year bracket. Overall, crypto investors are in the 25­45 year age group. The Crypto Trends Report for H12026 by WazirX India, released in July 2026, says over 82% users come from non-metro cities, with a typical investor being a 34-year-old working professional.This was also highlighted in a August 2026 report by CoinSwitch, India's Crypto Portfolio: How India Invests in Q2 2026, which said nearly three in four Indian crypto investors were under 35 years and 54.4% new investors belonged to the 18­25 age group in the second quarter of the fiscal. Uttar Pradesh (12.9%) and Maharashtra (12.4%) were India's largest crypto markets, it said.