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Singhal says it is not clear what problem they are solving, as most renters already take orders via WhatsApp and deliver it to their customers’ doorsteps. The only explanation, he says, is a global glut of capital groping for investment opportunities in the age of low interest rates. “For me, this excitement stems from this unchained money pressure that forces these entrepreneurs to be economically challenged,” he says.
Deloitte India partner Anand Ramanathan says there are few signs that the money taps will close soon. Investors have been pouring money into Indian startups for at least a decade and trying to hold on to a country whose total consumer markets could be worth $6 trillion by 2030. World Economic Forum. “Do any of these models make money? Is it sustainable? They’re not even close,” he says. “It’s all just a customer win game.”
India has features that may make it more suitable for faster trade than Western countries. Zepto’s Palicha says Indians buy groceries more often than shoppers in the developed world, and their bustling cities make it possible to reach large numbers of customers from a single dark store. “This pattern is growing in intensity,” he says.
There is evidence that in India’s largest cities, the Kiranas are starting to feel boredom. In a residential area bordering HSR Layout – a thriving suburb south of Bangalore that has sprung up as a major startup hub – he agreed that online shopping was reducing its profits. Ashraf Puncheehar says business in his shop has dropped 20% in the last six months. “New companies are coming online every day,” he says. “You can’t compete with them.”
While a widespread extinction of Kirans is unlikely any time soon, localized outages are a possibility. This can lead to a process known as “infrastructural exclusion,” says Aaron Shapiro, an anthropologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In the West, the shift from neighborhood stores to larger supermarkets has caused companies to abandon “non-viable markets” in poor areas, resulting in “food deserts” where residents have limited access to healthy and affordable food. In India, the phenomenon can take on a unique taste. Mohammed Ryaz, a regular at a rental in Chamrajpet, says the shop is a lifeline for less tech-savvy shoppers during quarantines. “These are not educated people – they don’t know how to order. [online],” says.
Another concern is the impact on delivery drivers. more than 80% Much of the Indian economy is informal, meaning workers do not have a formal employment contract and are not protected by labor laws. Thus, for many Indians, concert work is not markedly different from its alternatives. But Aditi Surie, a sociologist at the Institute of Human Settlements of India (IIHS), says the unpredictability of wages due to irregular work and incentive-based earnings still plagues many gig workers. “It actually makes people feel this inner sense of insecurity,” she says. “There’s no way to really calculate what will happen to your salaries next month.”
A Dunzo delivery driver, who did not want to be named, said he didn’t care about the job and regularly took 12-hour shifts. However, if he only achieves his incentive target of 21 orders per day, it’s really worth his time, increasing his salary by around 50%. “It’s a waste if I don’t get incentives,” she says. “All my efforts have been in vain.” It usually hits the target eight to 10 days a month.
Helping hand
If India already has a hyper-local retail network perfectly tuned to the needs of each community, why spend money building a new one? A number of “kirana tech” initiatives have decided that this is not necessary. Instead, they build tools to help stores compete with the giants of modern retail. “We see the Kirana store network in this country as a national infrastructure, possibly comparable to power grids or railroads,” says Prem Kumar, CEO of digital technology company Snapbizz.
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