As riders go home amid lockdown, queue for e-grocery orders get longer

Online grocery, which is barely about four per cent of India's $600-700 billion grocery market, has seen an overnight surge.

When the lockdown was announced, Feroze, who worked as a food delivery agent with Swiggy in Bengaluru, panicked and rushed home to Davangere, five hours away. Now he wants to return. “I have no income; I am exhausting my savings. If I get a pass somehow, I will go back to work,” says Feroze, who earned Rs 28,000-30,000 a month at the start-up.

Though food delivery orders have reduced on the platform, grocery orders have picked up, says another Swiggy rider who had just completed his 18th delivery of the day.

Online grocery, which is barely about four per cent of India’s