Even as quick commerce is proliferating in Indian cities and towns, some companies are looking to take things a notch higher in their top markets.
Big Basket has begun delivering items in a Bengaluru apartment through drones. At the Prestige Falcon apartment on Kanakapura Road, Big Basket brings groceries, medicines, and daily essentials via a drone, and these items are later delivered to residents in their flats. This is said to be the first such partnership between a quick commerce platform and an apartment complex.
The trial for this pilot project has been operational since March, but it was officially launched last week, according to a BigBasket staff member. Avinash HV, president of the Bengaluru Apartment Federation for Bengaluru South and a member of the Residents’ Welfare Association (RWA) at Prestige Falcon City, said deliveries are handled by a dedicated BigBasket executive after the items are brought to the apartment premises by the drone. “There is a seven-kilo limit for items that can be delivered through the drone. We partnered with BigBasket to avoid traffic congestion and make deliveries more convenient, both in terms of delivery time and by limiting the number of people entering the premises. Drone delivery allows one executive to manage and ensure orders reach the respective flats on time,” he told Deccan Herald.
Even though Big Basket’s dark stores are located six kilometers from the apartment complex, drones can deliver items to the complex in just 4-5 minutes. There are two drones that are currently serving the complex, which has 2,500 flats. A single drone is deployed if the order weighs less than seven kgs, and both drones are used with load each if the order exceeds that weight. The drones being used are developed by Skye Air Mobility, a Gurugram-based startup that specializes in delivery drones.
It might be a while before this service is extended to other parts of the city, but this seems to be the first major live instance of delivering e-commerce orders with drones in India. India has seen small experiments of blood samples and covid vaccines be delivered with drones, but they haven’t quite been deployed in e-commerce. In the past, Dunzo had received permission to deliver with drones, and Swiggy was slated to begin drone deliveries in 2022. None of these projects materialized at scale. Zomato had even acquired a drone startup to work on drone deliveries in 2018, but parted ways with the company in 2020.
But globally, there are many companies making e-commerce deliveries with drones. In China, companies like Meituan and Antwork have been operating successfully for years, focusing on dense urban areas and specialized niches like medical supplies and remote locations such as the Great Wall. Meituan runs extensive drone delivery routes in cities like Shenzhen, Beijing, and Shanghai, using kiosks as drone landing points to navigate complex urban environments efficiently. In the US, Amazon has tested drone deliveries in remote areas, but hasn’t yet deployed them at scale. And with India finally beginning to productionize drone deliveries, they could end up becoming mainstream — India’s notorious traffic snarls mean that drone deliveries, especially to apartment complexes, could end up being faster and cheaper than regular deliveries by human delivery partners.