Two lakh grocery stores closed across India due to rise of instant commerce platforms

New Delhi: The rapid expansion of instant commerce in India has led to the closure of nearly 200,000 kirana stores in the country in the past year, All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation, India's largest retail distributor association, said.

The Federation said that the sales of grocery stores have remained stable this festive season. Currently, there are estimated to be around 13 million stores in India, of which more than 10 million are in tier-2 and smaller cities.

In recent times, many consumer goods companies have said that demand for their products on the Quick Commerce platform has increased due to changes in consumer preferences. Some direct-to-customer brands are seeing 250% more holiday sales on these platforms compared to last year. The industry body highlighted that customer footfall at grocery stores has almost halved this year compared to the last two-three years.

These platforms, which prioritize short-term customer profits over sustainable business practices, are directly responsible for the closure of approximately 200,000 grocery stores across the country. The biggest impact of instant commerce platforms has been seen in metro cities. Of the total, 90,000 stores have closed in cities alone.