Zepto's Aadit Palicha says quick commerce has not hurt kirana stores: 'Will create more jobs than Railways in 2-3 years'

Zepto founder Aadith Palicha has claimed that quick commerce platforms have not hurt traditional kirana stores and that the industry has created jobs in the economy.

Palicha said in an interview with Moneycontrol that the idea of traditional kirana stores being impacted by quick commerce brands such as Zepto, Blinkit, BigBasket, and Instamart was false. He called it “anecdotal” and a “data-free narrative.”

He further cited data from the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT). According to it, $46 billion was added to grocery and household consumption goods from financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24. 

Of the $46 billion added, less than $5 billion belonged to quick commerce platforms. According to Palicha, the rest, $41 billion, belonged to kirana stores.

“Their own data shows that it’s impossible for quick commerce to have caused kirana stores to shrink,” he said.

Palicha also denied allegations of predatory pricing stating that only 0.2 per cent were sold below cost in FY24 by Zepto.

He claimed to cut off all the "inefficient" middlemen in the supply chain, which has reduced the price of products.

“We've created structurally deflationary value, we have cut out all the inefficient middlemen that exist in the value chain of groceries, the distributor, the wholesaler, we go straight to the manufacturer,” Palicha said.

Predatory pricing concerns allayed 

“We've structurally reduced the price, we've been able to turn ourselves profitable and that means we are not predatory pricing, we're actually deflationary,” he said. He claimed that quick is deflationary, which can be proved through profitability.

Additionally, he stated that the company is expanding and increasing its capital expenditures. According to the Zepto CEO, the quick commerce brand has also created many jobs in the economy.

“We've added 25,000 jobs in the past 90 days, delivery partners, pickers and packers, truck drivers, packagers for fruits and vegetables, local entrepreneurs in shops etc,” Palicha said.

He stated that the industry has created four and a half lakh jobs from which Zepto itself has created one and a half lakh jobs. The average wage of jobs created by Zepto is ₹23,200, he said.

“Quick commerce will generate more jobs than the Indian Railways would do in the next 2-3 years, which we should celebrate,” he added.