Quick commerce firms expand dark stores and staff ahead of festive season to boost $1.6B sales.

Quick commerce firms like Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and Zepto are expanding their dark store networks ahead of the festive season to improve delivery speed, with Blinkit adding 150–200 stores and others adding fewer than 100 each. These efforts aim to support an expected $1.6 billion in sales, accounting for 12% of online festive shopping. Companies are also boosting temporary staffing by 40–60% to handle increased demand. Meanwhile, tax cuts on gasoline vehicles have widened the price gap with electric vehicles, and the Department of Science and Technology has selected eight firms for India’s AI Mission 2.0. Infra.Market, a construction materials marketplace, raised $83 million, valuing it at $2.8 billion.