Rapido launches Ownly app, enters food delivery with zero-commission model

Ride-hailing firm Rapido debuts its Ownly app in Bengaluru, challenging Swiggy and Zomato with a zero-commission model for restaurants

Ride-hailing platform Rapido has launched its standalone mobile application, Ownly, marking its entry into the food delivery segment. Currently, the app is servicing select areas, including Koramangala, HSR, and BTM Layout. The newly launched app will compete with the likes of Swiggy, Zomato, and Magicpin.

 

The launch comes just a few months after Rapido and the National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI), which claims to represent over 50,000 eateries, started conversations to finalise terms and conditions (T&C) for bringing restaurant partners on the platform. NRAI had said that, given that Swiggy and Zomato charge high commissions, the association is actively exploring a third alternative.

 

 

The new platform, as a result, will be based on a zero-commission model. According to the terms that were earlier exchanged between NRAI and Rapido, the restaurant partners will pay the delivery fee for all orders in a standard radius of four kilometers or less.

 

However, in cases where the order value is Rs 100 and below, delivery costs will be Rs 10. Here, the customers will be asked to pay Rs 20. In other cases, where the order value is above Rs 100 and below Rs 400, the delivery cost will be Rs 25, in addition to a flat GST amount. For orders above Rs 400, the cost will be Rs 50. Business Standard had reviewed a copy of the T&C.

 

In an exclusive interview with this newspaper in May this year, commenting on the question of a potential food delivery business, Rapido’s co-founder, Aravind Sanka, said, "Whatever we do, we will try to give value back to the users in any category. In any category we enter in the future, we'll have a similar philosophy. There are multiple opportunities that always knock on the door because of our scale. We also want to see what the void in the market is. So, a lot of the time, we don't enter just because someone has left that void. We enter because we think the value is not actually getting passed for some reason."

 

In May 2025, on an overall platform level, Rapido had closer to two million captains. The company also plans to expand its services to 500 cities by year-end.