Davos 2026: Quick commerce not a fad, model is here to stay, says RPSG’s Shashwat Goenka

Davos 2026: Quick commerce not a fad, model is here to stay, says RPSG’s Shashwat Goenka

Quick commerce is not a passing trend but a structural shift in urban consumption that is here to stay and is already moving towards profitability, Shashwat Goenka, Vice Chairman of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, said, as India’s largest retailers and startups double down on ultra-fast delivery models.

Speaking to Moneycontrol on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Goenka said adoption of quick commerce is accelerating rapidly in Indian cities, driven by time-starved consumers and improving unit economics.

“Quick commerce is not a fad, it is a reality,” Goenka said. “In a country like India, where people are starved for time, adoption is happening very fast in urban centres. It is a new business model that is here to stay and is starting to become more profitable.”

The comments come at a time when India’s quick commerce sector has seen aggressive expansion and fundraising by players such as Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart, even as questions persist around sustainability and margins.

Core to RPSG’s retail strategy

For the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, quick commerce has become a core part of its retail play through its platform Jiffy, which operates alongside the group’s offline retail and consumer businesses.

“For us with Jiffy, quick commerce is a core part of the retail operations that we have,” Goenka said, signalling the group’s intent to remain invested in the segment as it scales.

Goenka added that the surge in capital flowing into quick commerce reflects a broader investment boom across Indian sectors, backed by strong policy support and rising private and international capital inflows.

“Investments are not just happening in these companies, they are happening across every sector,” he said. “India has not seen this level of public policy support, private infrastructure and private capital, and international investments coming in.”

Broader investment push

Beyond retail, Goenka said the group is making one of its largest capital commitments in renewable energy, underscoring how digital commerce and energy transition are emerging as parallel growth engines.

“For renewables, we are looking at investing north of Rs 30,000 crore and setting up about 10 gigawatts in the next five to six years,” he said, adding that the projects would span solar, wind hybrids and battery-linked storage.

He described renewables as one of India’s key long-term growth pillars and critical from a climate and sustainability standpoint globally.

India remains central to global investors

On the broader macro outlook, Goenka said India continues to dominate conversations at Davos, with investors increasingly viewing the country as a long-term structural growth story.

“Almost every room you go to, India is being talked about,” he said. “Today you can actually see a lot happening on the ground — it’s not a place anybody wants to miss out on.”

As competition intensifies and funding cycles normalise, Goenka’s remarks suggest that quick commerce — once dismissed as an unsustainable experiment — is now being viewed by large conglomerates as a durable part of India’s retail infrastructure.