For years, quick commerce sold India a simple promise: don’t plan, just tap. Groceries, snacks, supplements all arriving before the kettle could boil. Speed wasn’t just a feature; it was the headline.
But over the last three months, that headline has started to feel uneasy. What was once positioned as a triumph of logistics and consumer convenience has steadily turned into a debate about human cost, political optics and brand responsibility. Between Parliament interventions, delivery partner strikes, founder podcasts and now a government directive asking platforms to drop explicit 10-minute delivery claims, quick commerce finds itself at an inflection point.
From Policy to Protest: How the Pressure Built Up
The first formal shift came in November, when the government announced protections for gig workers and delivery partners, signalling that the sector’s rapid expansion would no longer be examined purely through a growth lens. In December, the conversation escalated when AAP MP Raghav Chadha raised the issue in Parliament, describing delivery partners as “hostages with helmets” — a phrase that travelled far beyond the House.
That moment reframed the debate. Speed was no longer just about efficiency; it became shorthand for pressure.
By the end of December, delivery partners called for a New Year’s Eve strike, pushing the issue to a peak during the year’s highest-ordering period. The optics were difficult to ignore: an industry built on urgency facing resistance from the very people enabling it.
Founders Respond, But the Mood Has Shifted
In early January, Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal attempted to push back against the growing criticism in a podcast interview, emphasising flexibility, choice and earnings data. But the timing mattered. Public sentiment had already shifted from fascination with scale to scrutiny of systems.
Soon after, Chadha dressed up as a delivery executive, turning the issue into a political visual. Whether intended as solidarity or symbolism, it made one thing clear: quick commerce was no longer just a startup story — it was now part of the political and cultural conversation.
What the 10-Minute Ban Really Means for Brands
Against this backdrop, the government’s move to ask quick commerce platforms to ban explicit 10-minute delivery claims landed as both corrective and symbolic. The immediate question for D2C brands was obvious: will impulse-led buying suffer if speed is no longer front and centre? For brands like Plum, the moment calls for adjustment rather than alarm. Shankar Prasad, CEO and Co-Founder, Plum, explains that speed was never the primary driver of purchase.
“In Plum’s case the purchase is often never by impulse, it’s always considered or at least semi-considered. So, while the 10-minute timeline acts as a sweetener (aka instant gratification), it’s not the reason we do well on quick commerce platforms.” In other words, quick commerce for many brands functions more as a discovery and availability engine than a pure impulse trigger. Prasad adds, “It (Quick commerce) is driving consideration and ease of selection and availability over speed. Therefore, we do not see a major impact of this.”
Several marketers point out that by the time speed becomes controversial, its job is already done. Consumer behaviour has shifted. Rasika Prashant, Co-founder and CMO, Tata Soulfull, notes that while the absence of speed messaging may affect impulse purchases, it won’t dismantle demand. “Once consumers experience 10-minute delivery a few times, the behaviour and expectation are already set even if it’s no longer advertised.” She adds that the real change will be in how urgency is triggered, “What will soften slightly (in the absence of speed-led messaging) is the urgency trigger for first-time or impulse add-on purchases.”
She also mentions that going forward, consumers will shift from expecting ‘instant’ to ‘fast and reliable.’ “For D2C brands, growth will depend less on speed-led impulse and more on brand salience, visibility, and occasion relevance moving from ‘I’ll get it in 10 minutes’ to ‘This is the brand I choose when I need it,’” she adds.
Speaking from Fast&UP’s experience across digital channels, Vijayaraghavan Venugopal, CEO, Fast&UP, says, “While overall volumes on Amazon and other e-commerce platforms haven’t declined, their growth has slowed compared to the sharp acceleration seen on quick commerce. The channel is expanding rapidly, especially by unlocking demand in cities and pockets the brand would not have reached as easily earlier.” He also adds, “More importantly, it has fundamentally altered consumer habits. Purchases that were once planned in advance are now deferred until the last moment, with consumers ordering only when products run out, a behavioural shift driven by the assurance of fast availability. Once this habit sets in, it is difficult to reverse.”
Quick commerce has established itself as a powerful and convenient channel, with consumers growing used to its ease and immediacy. Over time, the real value has shifted from sheer speed to the confidence of product availability and dependable doorstep delivery. “For categories like milk and milk products, where freshness and temperature integrity are paramount, the established density of dark stores and robust infrastructure will continue to ensure quality and convenience. The quick commerce ecosystem is maturing to balance efficiency with operational prudence and will continue to deliver products at consumers’ comfort. As a brand, we believe the focus should remain on consumer trust, product quality, and consistent delivery experiences rather than the race against the clock,” says, Jayatheertha Chary, Deputy Managing Director, Mother Dairy.
For highly perishable items like ice cream and dairy, maintaining freshness and proper temperature is far more critical than saving a few extra minutes on delivery. “A more realistic delivery window allows for better inventory rotation, stronger cold-chain discipline, and more predictable logistics planning. This ultimately improves product quality at the point of consumption,” says Ankit Chona, CEO, Hocco ice cream. “In our view, this shift moves the conversation from ‘how fast’ to ‘how well’, which is a healthier and more sustainable foundation for the category,” he adds.
Anup Sharma, PR & Strategic Communications Advisor, places this moment in a broader behavioural context. “The recent churn around gig workers, safety concerns, political scrutiny and the government asking platforms to drop explicit ten-minute delivery claims has not weakened the category. It has simply pushed it into its next phase of maturity.” He argues that speed’s role in communication is now complete. “Speed was never the end goal. Habit was.”
Despite the noise, many believe consumer behaviour will remain largely unchanged in the short term. Deepti Karthik, Founder, Decision Pinnacle, points out that moral discomfort rarely translates into action. “This is a classic case of human dignity vs algorithmic efficiency. Political symbolism aside, the guilt of the consuming class is not big enough to refrain from continuing to use Quick Commerce apps,” she says.
However, she views Raghav Chadha’s recent Social Experiment video involving a Blinkit rider as a meaningful signal rather than mere optics. Karthik adds, “If Raghav Chadha, who recently called delivery partners ‘hostages with helmets’ in Parliament, is now collaborating on a video, it signals to the public that the platform is opening its ‘black box’ to scrutiny.”
Still, scepticism remains strong. Manu Prasad, Fractional CMO, warns against mistaking visibility for accountability. “I don’t think trust can be rebuilt through symbolism alone. The gig economy workers don’t lack visibility, they lack leverage.” He adds a hard truth many brands are reluctant to confront, “It’s not a principle until it costs you money.”
Speed Was Already Losing Its Shine
Several marketing leaders argue that the industry clung too long to a claim that had already become hygiene. Saurabh Parmar, Fractional CMO and Trainer, says the controversy has exposed weak positioning rather than broken it. “10-minute delivery is no longer a USP… it’s table stakes.” He believes a self-initiated shift could have strengthened trust. “This actually is an opportunity… anybody who can plan for 30 minutes would have come back into the fold.”
From a public policy lens, Dilip Cherian, Image Guru, sees the government’s move as overdue. “There is now considerable anecdotal evidence that this creates the potential for risky behaviour by delivery agents.” And on consumer adjustment, he is blunt, “When customers get used to the fact that you cannot expect it in 10-minutes and you have to expect it in 20 minutes, they’ll get used to 20 minutes faster than you realise it.”
A Creative Reset, not a Collapse
For creative leaders, the moment demands recalibration rather than panic. Neville Shah, CCO, FCB Kinnect, argues that the obsession with speed distracted from brand building. “It’s about time. It’s not a creative crisis. It is course correction.” He stresses the need for deeper differentiation. “You have to build long-term brands. ‘EQUITY EQUITY EQUITY’. Brands will need to move their proposition from urgency to credibility, quality and trust. Changing consumer expectations is hard. But consumers aren’t toddlers. If you replace a loud promise with a believable one, they adapt. People don’t mind waiting if the brand gives them a reason to care.”
Kinnect (formerly FCB Kinnect) has led creative work for Flipkart Minutes, including the festive ‘Everything for Bappa and More, in just 10 Minutes!’ campaign for Ganesh Chaturthi and the ‘Everything for Every Party Animal’ quick-commerce ad that positioned the platform as the ultimate ally for late-night needs.
Sarvesh Raikar, President - Creative, Lowe Lintas, echoes the sentiment while raising concerns about the delivery boys, “I have personally seen the delivery guys crossing lanes recklessly, driving in wrong lanes and not wearing helmets (as it is exempted on some electric bikes). This can severely compromise safety for the riders and also other vehicles and passengers on the road. What’s worse, often the incentive structure is built on timely deliveries. Back in the day, even the iconic Domino’s campaign of ‘30 min nahi toh free’ had raised similar concerns.”
Meanwhile, Neeraj Kanitkar, Co-Founder, Fundamental, sees a chance for operational maturity. “With speed out of the picture, maybe they (quick commerce platforms) can concentrate on having fewer dark stores, allowing them room to make the facilities cleaner, better and more hygienic. This could become something that makes people choose one platform over the other.”
The End of the Stopwatch, the Start of Trust
Quick commerce didn’t falter because it moved too fast. It faltered because speed became the only story it told, even after the audience had already internalised it. India’s cities are now conditioned to instant access. Convenience is no longer a novelty; it is infrastructure. That reality will not be undone by removing a tagline or extending a delivery window by ten minutes.
What will change is the scrutiny. As political attention intensifies and worker welfare becomes harder to ignore, quick commerce will be judged not on how quickly it fulfils orders, but on how responsibly it runs its system. The stopwatch has served its purpose. Now comes the audit.
In this next chapter, legitimacy will matter more than latency. Platforms that treat trust as a brand asset, not a PR exercise, will endure. Those that rely on habit alone may find that while consumers forgive delays, they are far less forgiving of indifference. Speed created the market. Credibility will decide who survives it.
