“Are we going to cause huge, social disruption with this massive growth of e-commerce? I don’t see it as a matter of pride that half our market may become part of the e-commerce network 10 years from now; it is a matter of concern,” Goyal said, adding that the e-commerce market was doubling in size every four years.
India’s $1.1 trillion retail market saw e-commerce sales of less than $80 billion last year, according to HSBC. The e-commerce sector’s growth rate stands at 11%-12% annually. Quick commerce startups, which promise deliveries in 10 minutes or less, are experiencing rapid expansion. BlinkIt (owned by Zomato), Swiggy Instamart (backed by SoftBank) and Zepto (backed by Lightspeed) are projected to collectively achieve over $4.5 billion in sales this year, a year-on-year growth rate exceeding 100%, according to a TechCrunch analysis.