Nov 15, 2025

In a domino effect of quick , the race for faster delivery has become the defining metric of India's logistics as well. From same-day courier pickups to two-hour deliveries of gifts and groceries, the country's delivery networks are being rebuilt for immediacy, reshaping the way consumers buy, and how businesses operate. Courier platforms and logistics companies are rushing to keep pace with demand for instant and same-day services, investing in new fleets, technology, and fulfillment centres to match the shift. The country's largest logistics player, Delhivery, has entered the short-haul segment with Delhivery Direct, an on-demand intracity delivery service now live in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru. The service promises pickups within 15 minutes, marking the company's move into the same-day market once dominated by app-based delivery startups. The scale is staggering. In October 2025 alone, Delhivery processed more than 107 million e-commerce and freight shipments, dispatching 7.2 million parcels in a single day, which is a company record. More than 29 million packages were delivered within 48 hours and 13.6 million within 24. In Bengaluru, one delivery was completed in just two minutes. “In a first for us, volumes during festive season reached 100 million orders last month,” said Sahil Barua, co-founder and CEO of the company. Similarly, DTDC, an express logistics provider, announced its entry into the rapid commerce space earlier in 2025 by launching 2-4 hour rapid delivery and same-day delivery services with a dark store in Bengaluru. In November, the company announced the launch of its all-women-operated dark store in Indore, strengthening its rapid commerce operations amid an evolving logistics landscape, which is a part of the company's rapid commerce service, DTDC Raftaar. The company currently operates dark stores across key tier 1 and 2 cities, including Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Cochin, Bhopal, Kanpur, Nagpur, Udaipur and Meerut, strengthening its rapidly expanding express logistics network. “As DTDC enters its 35th year, we are reimagining our network to serve India's next phase of growth. The rising demand from tier 2 & 3 cities will be driven by smarter unit economics, making same-day delivery viable across categories such as electronics, fashion, and health supplements,” said Subhasish Chakraborty, chairman and managing director, DTDC. As per Redseer, India's parcel economy, valued at $9-11 billion, is growing 15-20% annually, and is on track to cross 1 billion parcels per month by 2030. But unlike earlier waves of growth driven by large e-commerce companies, today's demand comes from local sellers, independent brands, and home-run businesses that depend on fast and affordable delivery. Vova Piskunov, vice-president of product at Borzo (formerly WeFast), said the post-pandemic years permanently changed how Indians think about delivery. “Lockdowns shifted the consumer mindset,” he says. “Delivering often became cheaper than stepping out, especially in traffic-heavy cities. People now see delivery as normal, even desirable.” Borzo, which focuses exclusively on intra-city logistics, has positioned itself as a go-to service for small businesses. Piskunov added that affordability and speed must coexist, but not every order needs to be instant. “We expect strong growth in interval-based same-day deliveries and pickup hubs, options that are predictable but cheaper than urgent runs.” Supporting this shift is a new layer of fulfilment infrastructure designed for proximity. Emiza, which operates 24 fulfilment centres across 12 cities, is moving inventory closer to consumption hubs to enable faster shipments. “The next phase of logistics will be driven by proximity,” said Ajay Rao, founder and CEO of Emiza. “We're expanding into tier 2 and tier 3 cities and partnering with multiple last-mile carriers like Delhivery, ElasticRun and Amazon Transportation Services (ATS). That ensures better rates, wider reach, and faster turnaround.” Rao believes micro-fulfilment centres will dominate the next stage of logistics, while drone delivery will remain limited to niche uses. “The post-Covid consumer expects real-time visibility and same-day fulfilment as standard,” he says. “Logistics must now be faster and smarter, not just larger.” Meanwhile, app-led platforms compete for same-day dominance. Uber Courier, now operating in 25 Indian cities, reported its highest-ever demand this Diwali. Deliveries through Uber Courier and Courier XL rose 50% year-on-year, making it Uber's fastest-growing product category. “Uber Courier is redefining convenience by giving people a simple, reliable way to move what matters to them,” said Shiva Shailendran, director of consumer growth at Uber India & South Asia. Half of Uber's bike drivers now complete courier trips, and the company plans to expand the service to 10 more cities in 2026. Rapido, another major player in the quick-delivery market, saw festive and wedding-season demand spike 2X. “Convenience and immediacy are now hygiene factors,” said Rohit Rathod, vice-president of operations at Rapido. “What started as a niche urban use case is now a mainstream utility across gifting, retail, and e-commerce.” Rathod said the company's predictive routing and dynamic pricing systems are designed to balance speed, affordability, and partner earnings. At the city level, the race for speed is also reshaping how logistics networks are built. Porter, the Bengaluru-based platform that offers on-demand mini-trucks and two-wheelers, reported a Rs 55.3 crore profit in FY2025, reversing a loss the year before, as revenue jumped 57% to Rs 4,306 crore. Its fleet now spans 22 Indian cities, helping small enterprises deliver within hours. For the small businesses driving much of this growth, same-day delivery is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. In Kolkata, Sanghamitra Chatterjee Roy runs Misha's Bowtique, a home business selling accessories for children. She uses Rapido for local deliveries and Shiprocket for interstate ones. “I can promise customers their order will arrive today,” she said. “That kind of assurance changes how people shop.” In Noida, jeweller Subah Saluja, who runs Subah Jewels, ships through Uber Courier for Delhi-NCR orders and traditional courier firms for others. “I don't have to think about logistics anymore,” she said. “It's all on my phone.” As India's logistics industry accelerates toward a billion parcels a month, speed is the default setting. Whether carried by a bike, van, or EV, each package in motion is part of a broader shift redefining the logistics economy itself: fast, flexible, and built for the impatient consumer.