Uber to Launch Food Delivery Service in India

The company plans to launch its on-demand food delivery service, UberEATS, in India

India: Taxi Hailing company, Uber, is planning to launch its on-demand food delivery service, UberEATS, to India three years after it piloted this operation in Los Angeles. The taxi-aggregator is in talks with local restaurants and delivery partners before taking the service live.

Uber's local rival Ola had started a similar service, Ola Cafe, in 2015, which was shut down a year later after reportedly failing to expand its network of restaurants. Uber is calling Indian users to fill in the names of their favorite restaurants and it is expected that UberEATS will be first made available in the metro cities of Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai.

TechSci Research depicts that the company’s foray into food delivery services has the potential to change the food delivery industry in India as many of the players in this market such as Zomato, Foodpanda, Swiggy etc. have found it difficult to cope up with the diverse Indian food palate.

According to a recently published report by TechSci Research, “India Foodtech Market By Operation Type, By Source of Order, By Payment Method, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 – 2021”, the foodtech market in India is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 12% during 2016 - 2021. Over the last couple of years, the country’s foodtech market has been witnessing huge fund inflows from domestic as well as foreign investors. On the basis of operation type, the market has been segmented into two categories, namely, food aggregators and restaurant based. Among these categories, restaurant based segment dominated the overall market in 2015, and the segment is anticipated to maintain its dominance over the next five years as well, owing to consumer loyalty and frequent cashbacks/discounts offered by the companies. In 2015, Cash on Delivery was the most preferred mode of payment among Indian consumers. Moreover, web based source of ordering dominated the India foodtech market in 2015 as it offers seamless customer experience in terms of ease of ordering, choosing alternate payment options and order tracking.