Swiggy halts Genie operations in multiple cities

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Swiggy has halted its pick-and-drop service Genie in multiple cities including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Mumbai. Genie contributed around 5 percent to Swiggy’s overall business, according to experts. 

Commenting on the development, a Swiggy spokesperson said, "Swiggy Genie is temporarily unavailable in 3 out of the 68 cities. The cricketing and festive season has resulted in a surge in demand for servicing the requirements for both the food marketplace and Instamart, requiring us to prioritize these deliveries accordingly. We hope to resume Swiggy Genie in the impacted cities soon."

Moneycontrol today reported that with food tech and quick commerce seeing heightened momentum over the last one month, attrition and dearth of delivery executives have turned out to be a bigger problem for these players.

The monthly attrition rate in the industry is 18-20 percent.

“The quick commerce players have upped their game to hire delivery executives for their 10-minute delivery model with higher payouts, which is also a reason why these foodtech players are facing a problem,” said an industry expert who is tracking the space.

Staffing companies like Teamlease and Quess Corp are also seeing high demand for delivery executives in the quick commerce space. For instance, Qjobs, the online platform of Quess Corp, saw a 129 percent growth in the delivery segment in Q4FY22, with Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore topping the charts.

Swiggy's recent investment in bike-taxi firm Rapido will give it an edge over its competitors in terms of delivery executives, say experts. The foodtech major also recently announced that it now allows delivery executives to transition into full-time, managerial-level jobs.