Amazon, Flipkart lose user share; India set for more GCCs

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Amazon, Flipkart lose user share; India set for more GCCs

Happy Wednesday! Amazon and Flipkart have broadened their bets as quick commerce platforms chip away at their share of user base. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.

Also in the letter:■ ETtech Done Deals■ Bajaj Finance’s TrueFan bet■ Whatfix names new CEOFlipkart, Amazon look beyond ecommerce as user share slips133948674The aggressive push by ecommerce giants Flipkart and Amazon into quick commerce — alongside forays into microdramas, in-app OTT videos and food delivery — aims to halt a sustained decline in their user base share to 10-minute delivery platforms, industry executives and analysts said.

Zoom in:Amazon and Flipkart's combined share of monthly active users (MAUs) fell from 67% in calendar year 2022 to 53% year to date, according to data from market intelligence platform Sensor Tower, cited in a Goldman Sachs report.

Meanwhile, the MAU share for quick commerce apps including Blinkit, Zepto, BigBasket, Instamart and JioMart, rose from 5% in calendar year 2022 to 16% as of August 28, 2026, the data showed.133948629Expansion spree:Amazon has expanded its quick commerce arm Now's dark store count to 750 across over 55 cities. Flipkart Minutes has expanded to 1,000 stores across 130 cities as of June.

Flipkart has launched microdramas and is planning to enter food delivery.

Amazon acquired MX Player in 2024 for $100 million and merged it with Amazon miniTV to launch Amazon MX Player within its shopping app.

Expert take: Executives said app frequency is increasingly critical for retention, cross-selling and customer value. Initiatives like microdramas and food delivery are primarily designed to boost engagement and give users more reasons to return to the platform.

In other news: The Karnataka Food Safety and Drugs Administration seized expired and improperly labelled food products, and medicines stored without licences, during inspections of Amazon and Instamart’s food storage and supply units in Bengaluru.

India on track for over 100 GCCs in 2026 despite geopolitical uncertainty133948701India is set to add over 100 global capability centres (GCCs) in 2026, generating an estimated $2 billion in annual revenue, according to data sourced by ET from GCC and IT advisory firms.

What’s happening? More than 60 GCCs opened in India in the first half of 2026 despite the ongoing West Asia conflict. According to the data, the number of companies setting up centres rose about 20% from the same period last year.

GCC enabler ANSR expects these 60-plus centres to generate over $1 billion in their first year.

Tell me more: “FY26 GCC revenue was $98 billion. We are expecting a 10% increase this year to around $108 billion,” said Pareekh Jain, chief executive at market intelligence firm EIIRTrend.

Jain said new GCCs account for only part of the growth. “About 100 new GCCs in a year are adding about $2 billion revenue. The rest is from the expansion of old GCCs.”

QNu Labs raises Rs 200 crore led by the National Quantum Mission and Speciale Invest133948764Aluri Srinivasa Rao (left) and Sunil Kumar Gupta, founders, QNu LabsBengaluru-based quantum cybersecurity startup QNu Labs has raised Rs 200 crore, led by the National Quantum Mission (NQM) and Speciale Invest, as demand grows for quantum-safe encryption.

More on the round:Sony Innovation Fund, Gaja Capital and Artha Ventures also joined the round.

The funding takes QNu Labs’ total capital raised to Rs 375 crore.

The company will use the funds for research and development, expand sales and go-to-market operations in India and overseas, and develop its work in quantum sensing and artificial intelligence.

QNu Labs was among the nominees for the Top Innovator category at the Economic Times Startup Award 2026.

Carrum Mobility raises $10 million from Uber at Rs 1,505 crore valuation133948817Carrum Mobility, a business-to-business (B2B) fleet technology platform backed by CarDekho Group, has raised $10 million (around Rs 96 crore) in a round led by Uber.

Round details: The round valued Carrum Mobility at about Rs 1,505 crore pre-money, founder and chief executive officer Karan Jain told us. The funding takes its post-money valuation to about Rs 1,600 crore, Jain said.

The company will use the funds to enter new geographies, strengthen its technology platform, scale operations and support the expansion of Uber Black services across India.

Other Top Stories By Our Reporters133948841Nimish Goel, founder, TrueFanBajaj Finance buys 5% stake in TrueFan: Bajaj Finance has bought a 5% stake in video generation startup TrueFan AI, deepening an existing commercial relationship as the non-banking finance company steps up investments in and deployment of AI across its operations.

Whatfix appoints cofounder Vara Kumar as CEO: Enterprise software startup Whatfix has appointed cofounder Vara Kumar as its chief executive officer, effective immediately, following the sudden death of cofounder and CEO Khadim Batti earlier this month.

Global Picks We Are Reading■ OpenAI just claimed a huge math discovery. Some academics are crying foul (Wired)■ Think your EV holds its value? China has some bad news for you (Rest of World)■ AI will cure cancer in our lifetime, claims boss of UK chip giant (BBC)

Source: Economic Times - Tech