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Food and grocery delivery company Swiggy said that “irrational” competition and cannibalisation by its bulk-ordering programme Maxxsaver had impacted the order and gross sales growth of its quick commerce arm Instamart, particularly in the low AOV (average order value) segments.
Instamart’s operating losses, after a brief dip in the September quarter, widened again in October-December 2025 to Rs 908 crore.
During the quarter, the 10-minute delivery platform recorded a GOV (gross order value) of Rs 7,938 crore, up 103% year-on-year, while total orders rose 45% to 106.4 million.
“Order-growth in the past couple of quarters had been impacted as a result of Maxxsaver-led cannibalisation (as customers built larger carts) and weaning away of low-AOV orders. This was amplified in Q3 by competitive action, which we chose to not participate in,” Swiggy said in a letter to shareholders.
“As competition is high (and some of it is irrational), our growth at the bottom of the AOV-pyramid has been slower. Despite this, Instamart continued to grow GOV at over 100% YoY for the fourth consecutive quarter,” it added.
After rival Zepto slashed customer fees in November, Swiggy introduced similar measures for larger cart sizes. However, the company said these initiatives had “limited success due to continued irrationality in competitive activity across pricing and monetisation levers”.
“We have chosen to not participate in fuelling such behaviour, thereby choosing to forego such inducement-led volume gains. This may therefore have a near-term impact on underlying volume growth,” it said.
The company said that the market for "very low-AOV orders" is not sustainable due to low monetisation potential, and it has "consciously avoided creating customer behaviours which are purely discount-seeking and / or basket-breaking".
On a consolidated basis, Swiggy reported operating revenues of Rs 6,148 crore, up 54% on-year, while its net loss widened 33% to Rs 1,065 crore in the third quarter of fiscal 2026.
Instamart’s operating losses, after a brief dip in the September quarter, widened again in October-December 2025 to Rs 908 crore.
During the quarter, the 10-minute delivery platform recorded a GOV (gross order value) of Rs 7,938 crore, up 103% year-on-year, while total orders rose 45% to 106.4 million.
“Order-growth in the past couple of quarters had been impacted as a result of Maxxsaver-led cannibalisation (as customers built larger carts) and weaning away of low-AOV orders. This was amplified in Q3 by competitive action, which we chose to not participate in,” Swiggy said in a letter to shareholders.
“As competition is high (and some of it is irrational), our growth at the bottom of the AOV-pyramid has been slower. Despite this, Instamart continued to grow GOV at over 100% YoY for the fourth consecutive quarter,” it added.
After rival Zepto slashed customer fees in November, Swiggy introduced similar measures for larger cart sizes. However, the company said these initiatives had “limited success due to continued irrationality in competitive activity across pricing and monetisation levers”.
“We have chosen to not participate in fuelling such behaviour, thereby choosing to forego such inducement-led volume gains. This may therefore have a near-term impact on underlying volume growth,” it said.
The company said that the market for "very low-AOV orders" is not sustainable due to low monetisation potential, and it has "consciously avoided creating customer behaviours which are purely discount-seeking and / or basket-breaking".
On a consolidated basis, Swiggy reported operating revenues of Rs 6,148 crore, up 54% on-year, while its net loss widened 33% to Rs 1,065 crore in the third quarter of fiscal 2026.