Bengaluru, July 29 -- Rapido's food delivery platform Ownly is betting that cheaper food delivery, not higher commissions, will be the next growth driver for India's online food delivery market, with the company prioritizing new customers and restaurant sign-ups over gross order value (GOV).

"The key metric we're chasing in the near term is bringing more customers online and onboarding more restaurants," Aravind Sanka, Rapido's co-founder and head of Ownly, told Mint.

Affordability should drive higher repeat purchases, ordering frequency and retention, making conventional metrics such as GOV less relevant for a platform that does not charge restaurant commissions, he added.

Ownly's strategy marks a departure from the playbook adopted by incumbents Swiggy and Zomato, which have increasingly focused on improving profitability through higher order values, advertising and subscription programmes.

The five-month-old company's zero-commission model, which it intends to maintain even as the platform scales, is also a key differentiator, according to Sanka.

"Our philosophy is to make a small amount of money on every order rather than make a lot of money on a few orders," Sanka said, arguing that simply extracting more value from each transaction rarely defines long-term economics.

Acknowledging industry concerns that India's food delivery market is nearing saturation, Sanka said early traction among consumers and restaurants suggests there is room for a differentiated platform. Food delivery still has room to add first-time online customers and restaurants underserved by existing platforms, he added.

Sanka also said it would be unfair to compare Ownly's profitability timeline with market leaders Swiggy and Zomato because they had to build India's online food delivery market from scratch. "They built the market from scratch. New entrants will naturally move faster," Sanka quipped.

India's online food delivery sector is expected to reach nearly $27 billion by 2030 from $9.1 billion in 2024, growing at a 19% CAGR, driven less by new user additions and more by higher order frequency and tier-2 penetration, according to a May 2026 report by Investec Equities.

On Wednesday, Ownly signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) on Tuesday to promote its zero-commission model, following the platform's rollout in Bengaluru in March this year. Ownly currently has about 20,000 restaurants.

Sanka said Ownly intends to leverage Rapido's logistics network and rider base to keep delivery costs low rather than monetize restaurants through commissions. Consumers should pay only for food and the cost of delivery, while restaurants retain menu pricing without platform commissions, he said.

That philosophy is also shaping other monetization decisions. Ownly is not currently considering subscription programmes because, unlike larger rivals, it does not have multiple revenue streams to subsidise memberships, according to Sanka.

For context, Zomato offers the Gold membership for additional discounts, while Swiggy offers One across its food delivery and grocery delivery services.

However, advertising could become a revenue stream, though Sanka said it is unlikely to be significant.

While Ownly was integrated into the Rapido app earlier this week, Sanka said the company has no plans to abandon its standalone identity.

"Consumers associate Rapido with mobility, while food remains a distinct habit," he said, explaining that the main app primarily serves as a low-cost customer acquisition channel.

Rapido's daily traffic offers a cheaper way to build awareness than paid marketing, but the standalone Ownly app will remain the company's long-term strategy.

"We want people to know about Ownly, and Rapido is the best platform for us to build that awareness," Sanka said, adding that customers would ultimately choose whether to order through the main app or download the dedicated food app.

Following a pilot in Koramangala and HSR Layout before expanding citywide in March, Sanka said repeat rates and ordering frequency are "running above industry averages", while some restaurant partners already derive "a meaningful share of their online business" from Ownly.

Those trends have given the company confidence to begin expanding beyond Bengaluru in the coming quarter.

When asked what could cause Rapido to rethink its ambitions beyond ride-hailing, Sanka said the trigger would not be financial losses alone.

"If all we're doing is shifting existing demand, then we're not creating enough value for the industry." Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from MINT. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at [email protected]