Hackathons turn talent cliquebait

It was barely dawn and the streets in the upscale suburb of Neelankarai in Chennai were mostly empty, save for a few vegetable vendors, those out on morning walks, and devotees ambling to a temple nearby. Outside a quick commerce dark store, however, a group of riders were already perched on their bikes. They looked groggy. Some rubbed their eyes to stay awake, weary from working late at night.

“Regardless of what happens—whether I have slept or bathed—I make sure to come in before 6am because that is when the peak time starts for us. I can always go back home and sleep in the afternoon when the order flow is less,” one of them reasoned.

As the clock struck six, their phones began buzzing. Into the dark store they went, soon trooping out with those brown paper bags that customers hoard at home. Rice, oil, ghee, pulses, vegetables, tea leaves and coffee powder made their way into nearby homes. Everyone moves with practiced efficiency.

One rider was back within 20 minutes, ready for the next haul. Time is money, and there's none to waste. Some rushed off without helmets, others sped down the busy East Coast Road (ECR), notorious for accidents. It's a scene that plays out across urban India. The addictive convenience of ten-minute delivery has second-order effects that are beginning to show up as unwelcome consequences across India's metros and tier-one and tier-two cities.Unruly driving, alarmed pedestrians and unauthorised and hurried parking, which blocks parts of the road, are the most common complaints ET reporters encountered across New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.But at the core of all these concerns is the central question about their operations—how are they regulated and who is responsible for the oversight? Are they deemed to be shops or warehouses, under local laws? Did the licensing for such establishments ever envisage high-frequency motorised traffic activity bang in the middle of urban settlements, without provisioning for parking, leading to take over of public roads and spaces, willy nilly? If not, are fresh regulations needed to streamline such hubs, perhaps with dedicated zones, instead of the chaotic mushrooming that has happened so far?

Location location location

First, some numbers. According to HSBC, the total number of dark stores grew sharply from about 1,800 at the end of FY24 to over 4,000 by FY25, driven by rapid rollout by major players such as Blinkit, Swiggy's Instamart, and Zepto. They project this footprint will expand to around 5,000–5,500 dark stores by the end of FY26, as platforms push deeper.
ETtech According to brokers who help in leasing dark stores, this continuing demand is reshaping India's urban commercial landscape. However, there is no national framework. Only municipal patchwork. There is no single law that specifically governs the establishment and operation of dark stores. Instead, different aspects of their functioning are regulated under a range of applicable laws.

These include registration under state-specific shops and establishments laws, obtaining mandatory FSSAI licences and securing trade licences along with ensuring compliance with local municipal and zoning regulations. These requirements are not unique to dark stores and apply more broadly to other commercial establishments such as grocery stores, supermarkets and general merchandise outlets.

The FSSAI licence is required where food products are sold. This lack of a specific regulation for a hybrid set up like a dark store, which is at once a warehouse and a shopfront, has created its own set of problems. The NCR region covering Delhi, Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Noida and Faridabad hosts the largest concentration with 400 dark stores and with a total area of 2 million sq.ft as of October 2025, but there is no policy specifically governing dark stores.

“Ideally, the land use should be for warehousing purposes since they are using it for storage but most of the dark stores operate out of temporary structures or old shops. Since, there is no policy, there is no regulation as well, however food safety departments keep a check on the items stored,” said a Greater Noida authority official, who asked not to be named. The situation is similar in Delhi.

“Dark stores often operate in converted retail or commercial spaces rather than purpose-built warehouses. This is not illegal since there was no concept of a dark store earlier. However, it creates a nuisance in the neighbourhood as riders block a large portion of road,” said an official with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

In Bengaluru, much of the growth is out of old commercial buildings that have struggled to attract traditional tenants. “Vacant offices, unused floors, and even basement and lower basement spaces are now being leased to quick commerce companies at rentals often below Rs 40 per square foot. What were once considered undesirable or impractical spaces have become strategic assets,” a broker in Bengaluru said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Except in some cases, basements and parking areas have also been subsumed into such operations. Existing norms clearly discourage such use, yet enforcement remains weak.

“Dark stores continue to operate in spaces that were never intended for intensive logistics activity, a practice now common across nearly all quick commerce firms,” said another property broker in Bengaluru. “In Haryana, there is no regulation which controls dark store operators. Anyone with a small space, lease it to the operators. Most of them are in villages near the gated communities,” said an official of Municipal Corporation of Gurugram. Since dark stores work on a franchisee model, quick commerce companies can say compliance is responsibility of the franchisee.

If most cities operate in a regulatory vacuum, Mumbai stands out as a partial exception. Mumbai's civic regulations require licences for trade and storage activities under Section 394 of the MCGM (Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) Act, and unauthorised storage can attract fines, licence revocation or seizure of goods. Here, unlike conventional shops, dark stores operate as backend inventory and fulfilment centres, not open retail outlets. That means they fall under broader trade, zoning and storage provisions.

“From a business compliance standpoint, any establishment conducting trade or storage must obtain a Gumasta licence from MCGM under the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments Act. This includes dark stores, which are treated as commercial trade operations even if not consumer-facing,” said an MCGM official. While there are provisions for regular inspections by civic authorities, fire department, and local FSSAI bodies, the implementation of these differ from state to state. These are a lot more active in Maharashtra and some of the states in the south. In Delhi-NCR, UP and Gujarat, these are not as frequent.

The invisible pressure

The location of these stores often compounds the problem. Many are embedded inside or adjacent to residential neighbourhoods, whose narrow roads were never designed for sustained motorised activity. Riders admit that to meet delivery timelines, they often ride on the wrong side, cut through lanes, or take risky shortcuts.

They claim that it is often less about recklessness and the placement of many stores leave little room for lawful movement, if a timely delivery is to be made. What makes the situation worse is the invisible pressure on the riders to cram as many deliveries as possible.

Santosh, a rider with Instamart in Bengaluru, is always in a hurry because every minute affects his earnings.The faster he moves, the more deliveries he can complete in a day, and incentives are directly linked to volume. In Delhi's Bikaji Cama Place a rider said they rush deliveries primarily because the minimum payout per order is only Rs 14.

“This constant pressure keeps riders on the road for long hours, increasing the risk of accidents. Similarly, Guru, a rider with Zepto in Bengaluru, describes a workday defined by speed rather than explicit pressure. More deliveries mean more incentives.

Analysts say platforms now offer target-based incentives or show next day's incentives in advance to retain riders longer and persuade them against switching to a rival app. On a good day, a rider can make 50 deliveries. That's a lot of driving and fatigue at the end of it can impair judgment on the road.

Four of the riders ET spoke to in Bengaluru had wounds and scratches on their hands and legs from minor accidents that occurred while speeding. While there is no direct push by companies to break rules while delivering, delayed orders can cause complaints which can hurt riders, especially if they add up over a period of time.

A rider in Delhi said that repeated customer complaints result in warnings, after which the rider's ID can be suspended for 24 hours. Some riders in Bengaluru claim that in some instances they were fined. Questions sent to Zepto, Blinkit, Instamart, BigBasket, Flipkart Minutes and Amazon Now elicited no response.

Delivering consternation

All of which can add up to serious harm. A resident of RK Puram in Delhi, who has two children under the age of six, said, “it's risky as vehicles move at high speeds, which is a cause for concern.” Deepti Batra, a 24-year-old resident, said that about a week ago, an elderly man fell in the area after a delivery partner suddenly appeared from nowhere.

“Quick commerce is convenient, but this store should not be located right outside our homes. Here, children are not able to play, so it is a safety concern because the riders take sharp turns at high speed. Even for elderly people, it is a concern because they might get accidentally hit,” she added.

In Chennai some residents complain that orders being delivered till the wee hours of the morning often pose a security issue. “Orders come in one after the next till 2 am and sometimes 3 am,” Uma M, a resident of RA Puram rued. “We live in an independent house with no security guard or anything so it is concerning that we have activity around that time. It has prompted us to consider keeping a guard or install a CCTV camera.”

Abha (name changed on request), a resident of Domlur in Bengaluru, says that walking on the narrow pavements in Domlur and Indiranagar becomes even more challenging “when quick commerce riders drive their 2 wheelers on the footpath, often against traffic, while honking as if pedestrians are the ones in the wrong.” Pushbacks by local communities are quite prevalent because of congestion caused by riders and frequent presence of large trucks that replenish stock at dark stores, some of which have 24 hour operations.

Complaints range from speeding, noise and disturbance to traffic congestion and parking issues. What emerges is the need to create specific laws to govern and guide hybrid cases of dark stores, both from a land use perspective and to combat nuisance. Solving some of these would be crucial as the quick delivery segment of the gig economy already may be employing as many as half a million as of November, a number expected to grow significantly.

Source: EconomicTimes
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