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India’s food delivery market is nowhere close to China in size, but Zomato and Swiggy are already reaching food delivery economics that are comparable with Meituan, the Chinese giant that operates at a vastly larger scale. This is notable because China’s food delivery market is nearly 22X larger than India’s, while consumer incomes are also significantly higher. Yet, Zomato and Swiggy are closing the gap on some of the key metrics that matter most to food delivery businesses, including profitability per order and average order value, according to a Bernstein report. China’s food delivery market stood at around $230 billion in CY25, compared with over $10 billion in India in FY26. Meituan’s food delivery GTV was at an annualised $164 billion in the March 2026 quarter, around 29X Zomato’s annualised GOV of $6 billion in Q1 FY27. But the gap looks very different at the order level. Meituan generated around $0.3 in operating profit per order at its peak profitability in Q2 2024. Zomato and Swiggy were not far behind, with both generating around $0.2 in adjusted EBITDA per order in Q1 FY27. The same trend is visible in average order values. Meituan’s AOV was around $7.2 at its peak profitability, while Zomato and Swiggy reported GOV per order of around $5.2 and $5.4, respectively. In other words, two Indian platforms operating in a much smaller market and with a lower-income consumer base are already generating economics that are broadly comparable with China’s largest food delivery player. The broader numbers make the progress even more striking. Meituan generated $4.9 billion in food delivery operating profit in FY24, while Zomato reported $0.2 billion in adjusted EBITDA in FY26. Meituan also controlled around three-fourths of China’s food delivery order share before competition intensified in 2025. India’s food delivery penetration still has significant room to grow. Food delivery accounted for around 15% of the country’s food services market in FY26, compared with around 27% in China in FY25. India’s food delivery market has nevertheless grown from just $1.2 billion in FY18 to more than $10 billion in FY26. Bernstein said India’s current food delivery economics are helped by a relatively high-income consumer cohort, which supports higher order values and better margins. The next phase could be more challenging as Zomato, Swiggy and other platforms move deeper into lower-income segments to expand their user base. That could bring down AOVs and put pressure on margins. But it also points to the bigger opportunity: India’s food delivery market has reached only a fraction of China’s size, while its leading platforms have already built unit economics that are getting remarkably close. The market may be 22X smaller today. Economics is proving to be a different story.
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