Zepto co-founder Aadit Palicha said quick commerce doesn’t hurt traditional kirana stores and that it is a net job creator as well.
Palicha dismissed the whole idea of kirana stores being affected by the rise of quick commerce firms like Zepto, Blinkit, Instamart, and BigBasket, calling it “anecdotal” and a “data-free narrative,” in an interview with Moneycontrol.
He went on to cite Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) data which showed that $46 billion was added to grocery and household essentials consumption between the financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24, with quick commerce having less than $5 billion of a share.
Palicha said the balance $41 billion of the incremental rise went to kirana stores. “Their own data shows that it’s impossible for quick commerce to have caused kirana stores to shrink,” he was quoted as saying.
He further clarified that even if quick commerce grew at a huge 1,500% rate in the next five years, it will still reach only $75 billion at a time when reports from Goldman Sachs, CLSA, and Invest India forecast $200-250 billion of consumption growth in the same time period.