Bike taxi ban delivers a blow to Delhi ecommerce

“The recent changes in regulations on bike taxi services in Delhi have caused confusion and disruption to food and quick commerce delivery aggregators. Our delivery executives are being wrongly issued challans despite the notification being applicable only to bike taxi service providers,” said a spokesperson for Swiggy, which delivers food and grocery through its Instamart platform.

“While the notice is only for passenger vehicles, there is some misinterpretation on the ground,” said a spokesperson for Zomato, which also operates grocery platform Blinkit.

For brands and food delivery, ecommerce remains a rapidly growing channel despite post-pandemic reopenings of physical stores.

“There is confusion about the notification and it is impacting and delaying ecommerce deliveries in the national capital. A significant part of our business comes from deliveries and the lack of clarity in such notifications is disruptive to business,” said Saurabh Khanijo, managing director, Kylin chain of restaurants.

Dinker Vashisht, group VP, public policy, Swiggy had sent a letter to the commissioner of transport department, Delhi government on Tuesday.

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“The recent directions on two-wheeled vehicles have been misrepresented by the RTO (regional transport office) officials, who have started issuing challans to delivery partners despite the fact that they have not been in violation of the direction of the notification,” the letter said.The letter addressed to Ashish Kundra, principal secretary and commissioner, transport department, Delhi government, also said: “This has led to disruption of services and confusion among the delivery partners, who are now apprehensive of providing their services with fear of being penalised and harassed while on duty.”

ET’s query seeking comment from the Delhi transport department did not elicit a response till press time.

Late last month, the Delhi government had said that the bike taxis would not be allowed in the national capital, stating that app-based aggregators that are running personal bikes as taxis were in violation of the Motor Vehicles Act. Bike taxi services including those of apps such as Ola, Uber and Rapido have been banned in the city.

According to the Swiggy spokesperson, some challans have been issued to delivery executives in excess of Rs 15,000.

Quick commerce platforms, which deliver essentials, grocery and household goods anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes, are contributing 10-30% of sales of packaged goods companies, the executives said, adding that any disruptions impact sales significantly.

Vikram Agarwal, managing director of GreenDot Health Foods, which owns the Cornitos brand of snacks, said, “Quick commerce platforms are now contributing 20% of our overall sales. Absence of clear guidance on such notifications hampers seamless deliveries.”

Nestle, Coca-Cola and Emami have said in management commentary during post-earnings calls that quick commerce platforms are growing “very rapidly”.