Swiggy on Tuesday appointed former Myntra chief executive Nandita Sinha as CEO of Instamart, signalling a strategic shift at its quick commerce business as the company looks to improve profitability through better merchandising, premiumisation and private labels rather than relying solely on expansion and discounting.
Sinha will take charge on August 3, succeeding Amitesh Jha, who resigned with immediate effect to pursue opportunities outside the company. The announcement comes two days before Swiggy reports its April-June quarter results, when the company had guided Instamart to achieve contribution-margin breakeven.
The appointment suggests Swiggy believes its biggest challenge is no longer attracting customers but making larger shopping baskets profitable. Instamart already has the highest gross average order value among the leading quick commerce players at around Rs 700, well ahead of Blinkit’s Rs 518.
Yet it has struggled to convert that advantage into profits, losing nearly Rs 85 on every order through FY26, the highest among the three major players. The company now appears to be betting that improving product mix and margins, rather than merely driving volumes, is the next phase of growth.
That strategy had already begun taking shape under Jha. In his farewell note, Swiggy group CEO Sriharsha Majety credited him with launching private label Noice, one of Instamart’s biggest margin bets, and strengthening the company’s differentiation strategy.
In its January-March quarter shareholder letter, Swiggy had said Instamart would pursue a more differentiation-led and not value/price-led strategy, signalling that the business intended to rely less on discounts and more on exclusive products and higher-margin categories.
Sinha’s experience at Myntra closely aligns with that approach. During her tenure, the fashion platform moved from losses to profitability by expanding higher-margin private labels, growing beauty into a meaningful business and increasing the contribution of premium and international brands. Myntra reported a net profit of Rs 548 crore on revenue of Rs 6,043 crore in FY25 after years of losses, with profitability driven as much by category mix as by scale.
The broader management reshuffle at Swiggy reinforces that direction. Over the past month, chief operating officer Ankit Jain and chief business officer Hari Kumar exited the company. Swiggy subsequently appointed former Oyo executive Gautam Swaroop as chief business officer with responsibility for category management and brand partnerships, besides hiring leaders for advertising monetisation and FMCG categories.
Together, the appointments point to a greater emphasis on merchandising and monetisation than on logistics alone.
The urgency is evident in Instamart’s financials. Adjusted Ebitda loss remained at Rs 858 crore in the March quarter, with losses largely unchanged for four consecutive quarters even as contribution margin improved modestly.
Store additions slowed to just seven during the quarter, taking the network to 1,143 dark stores, suggesting the company is becoming more selective on expansion.
Whether the strategy pays off, however, remains uncertain. Daily essentials still account for the bulk of quick commerce demand, leaving little room to escape the thin-margin economics that define the business. Sinha’s challenge will be to lift margins without compromising the speed and convenience that customers expect from Instamart.