According to Financial Times News, Reliance Industries has built about 600 dark stores across Indian cities in just six months as part of Mukesh Ambani’s renewed push into quick commerce. The conglomerate’s retail division reported $10 billion revenue and $390 million profit in the September quarter, up 18% and 22% respectively year-over-year. Ambani’s daughter Isha is leading the charge with plans to grow their consumer brands subsidiary to $11.7 billion revenue within five years. However, Reliance faces dominant competitors Blinkit, Swiggy and Zepto, which control over 90% of the quick commerce market. Meanwhile, the company’s foreign brand partnerships have struggled, with ventures like West Elm and Superdry losing $30 million last fiscal year.
The Quick Commerce Race
Here’s the thing about quick commerce in India – everyone’s losing money while racing to capture what Bank of America estimates could be a $128 billion market by 2030. Reliance is basically playing catch-up in a game where the rules were written by others. They’ve built 600 dark stores in six months, which sounds impressive until you realize market leader Blinkit operates about 1,800. As one person close to the conglomerate admitted, “we have to be there because everybody is.” That doesn’t exactly sound like a confident strategic vision, does it?
Scale Advantage vs Timing Problem
Reliance’s finance chief Dinesh Taluja makes a valid point about their geographic reach – they’re in nearly 1,000 cities while competitors focus on the top 10-20 urban centers. But here’s the catch: quick commerce is fundamentally an urban phenomenon. People in smaller cities aren’t typically paying premium prices for 30-minute deliveries. So while Reliance has unmatched physical scale with nearly 20,000 outlets (double its pre-pandemic size), that might not translate well to the quick commerce model. It’s like having the world’s largest fishing net but trying to catch fish that require spearfishing techniques.
The International Brand Problem
Reliance’s partnerships with Western brands like West Elm, Pottery Barn and Superdry have been what one analyst called “a vanity project.” Losing $30 million on these ventures in a country where per capita income remains under $3,000 shows a fundamental miscalculation. Even their high-profile Shein partnership has underwhelmed – the app has only 11 million downloads in a country of 1.4 billion people. The brutal truth? Indian consumers are incredibly price-sensitive, and foreign brands often can’t compete with local alternatives on cost.
Playing the Long Game
Reliance has the deep pockets to play the long game – with a $225 billion market cap, they can afford to lose money for years. But as retail consultant Arvind Singhal noted, “It’s a question of who runs out of money first.” The entire quick commerce sector is unprofitable, and we’re likely headed for a shakeout. Reliance might be betting they can outlast everyone else, just like they did in telecom. But disrupting an established market is very different from creating a new one. When you’re making a late entry into a crowded space, as Elara Capital’s Karan Taurani pointed out, “it will be very tough to disrupt players here.” The question isn’t whether Reliance can compete – it’s whether they should be pouring billions into a sector where even the leaders can’t figure out profitability.
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