Quick Take
- Flipkart plans a Bengaluru food delivery pilot around August 15, 2026, on the ONDC network.
- Restaurant commission of about 10%, well below the 16% to 30% charged by rivals, per reports.
- Success could trigger a phased national rollout, pressuring Swiggy, Zomato, and Rapido’s Ownly.
In This Article
Flipkart food delivery is set to launch as a Bengaluru pilot on or around August 15, 2026, running on the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) with a restaurant commission of about 10%, according to reports.
The Walmart-owned e-commerce giant is targeting the 16% to 30% fee rates charged by market leaders Swiggy and Zomato. Restaurant owners told Moneycontrol that vendor onboarding is already underway. The final commission rate is still being decided, and preliminary figures point to a roughly 10% take rate.
StartupFeed Insight
The real weapon here is not the 10% headline, it is ONDC. By plugging into an open network, Flipkart skips the years and the capital Swiggy and Zomato spent building closed marketplaces. That shifts the fight from app scale to unit economics, exactly where a Walmart balance sheet helps. Watch restaurant associations in Bengaluru, who have pushed Swiggy on fees with an August 15 deadline, they are the swing vote. StartupFeed predicts Flipkart will confirm a live Bengaluru pilot before September 2026, then name a second city within two quarters if pickup holds. By Avinash.
Flipkart Food Delivery: The Key Facts
Flipkart food delivery is a pilot service, not yet a confirmed national launch, built on ONDC rails rather than a proprietary marketplace. The table below sets out what is currently reported.
| Detail | What is Reported | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Launch window | On or around August 15, 2026 | Internal target, subject to change |
| Launch city | Bengaluru | Pilot phase only |
| Restaurant commission | About 10% | Final rate still being decided |
| Network | ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) | Open network, not a closed marketplace |
| App route | Main Flipkart app and/or a standalone app | Under evaluation |
| Rival commission range | 16% to 30% | Charged by incumbents, per reports |
The most striking number is the gap. A 10% take rate would sit at roughly a third of the top end that Swiggy and Zomato are reported to charge, a direct pitch to fee-weary restaurants.
About Flipkart
Flipkart is India’s largest home-grown e-commerce company, founded in 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal and headquartered in Bengaluru. It runs online retail, quick commerce (Flipkart Minutes), fashion, e-commerce, payments, and travel booking. The group is majority owned by Walmart, which acquired control in 2018. Kalyan Krishnamurthy is the group CEO.
Why is Flipkart building on ONDC?
ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) lets any compliant app connect buyers and sellers on shared, government-backed rails instead of a walled marketplace. For Flipkart, that means faster restaurant onboarding and lower build costs. Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said last month the company would enter food delivery over the coming weeks through a phased rollout, first testing with a limited set of users before expanding on feedback.
The service would first be tested with a limited group of users before being expanded after incorporating customer feedback, Kalyan Krishnamurthy said, per Storyboard18.
Ashish Vijayvergiya, formerly chief of staff to Krishnamurthy, is leading the food delivery initiative. The ONDC route also reflects a wider policy push. You can read about the network directly on the official ONDC website.
How does the 10% commission compare?
The 10% figure lands in the middle of an active commission war. Rapido’s Ownly, launched citywide in Bengaluru on March 3, 2026, runs a zero-commission model, charging customers a flat Rs 30 delivery fee and onboarding roughly 20,000 restaurant partners. Swiggy and Zomato, by contrast, are reported to charge 16% to 30%.
| Platform | Restaurant Commission | Model |
|---|---|---|
| Flipkart (planned) | About 10% | ONDC-based pilot |
| Swiggy / Zomato | 16% to 30% | Closed marketplace |
| Rapido Ownly | 0% | Flat Rs 30 customer fee |
Swiggy’s own scale shows the prize. Its food delivery Gross Order Value (GOV) reached Rs 9,490 Cr in Q1 FY27, up 17.4% year on year, per company results. What sets Flipkart apart is reach: it already owns a large logged-in shopping base and Walmart backing, so it can absorb early burn that a pure start-up cannot.
What’s Next
The near-term marker is simple: does the Bengaluru pilot actually go live around August 15, 2026, and at what final commission? Investors will track restaurant pickup rates, delivery times, and whether Flipkart can hold a 10% rate while covering costs in a high-burn sector. If pickup holds, a second city could follow within two quarters. Will a 10% take rate be low enough to pull restaurants away from Ownly’s zero-commission promise?
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