India retail market could reach ₹215 trillion by 2035 as retail-tech firms post Q3 gains
Financial Express flags Eternal, Nykaa, Delhivery and IndiaMART as retail-tech plays tied to India’s expanding retail market. Eternal reported Q3 FY26 revenue of ₹16,315 crore, while Nykaa’s revenue rose 27% to ₹2,873 crore and Delhivery’s services revenue grew about 18%.
What happened
Eternal (formerly Zomato) · India’s retail market could reach Rs 210-215 trillion by 2035. Eternal achieved quick-commerce breakeven and added 200-plus stores,
Key facts
- India retail market projected at Rs 210-215 trillion by 2035, versus Rs 90-95 trillion in 2025
- Eternal Q3 FY26 revenue: Rs 16,315 crore, up 201.9% YoY; net profit: Rs 102 crore, up 102.9%
- Eternal added over 200 net stores; share price up 13.5% in one year
- Nykaa Q3 FY26 revenue: Rs 2,873 crore, up 27%; net profit: Rs 68 crore, up 156%
- Nykaa gross margin: 45.2%; EBITDA margin: 8.0%; 276 stores across 94 cities
- Nykaa B2B platform serves over 4.8 lakh retailers across 1,100 cities
- Delhivery Q3 FY26 services revenue: about Rs 2,798 crore, up 18% YoY
Why this matters
The accelerating Indian retail-tech market makes logistics, seller-enablement and omnichannel commerce capabilities attractive partnership or acquisition targets for companies seeking exposure to long-term retail digitization.
What to watch
- Quarterly contribution-margin and EBITDA trends versus revenue growth
- Quick-commerce order frequency, average order value, dark-store expansion and delivery-time metrics
- E-commerce festive-season demand, discretionary consumption and urban consumption indicators
- Digital-payment volumes and GST/e-invoicing data as proxies for formalization
- Logistics parcel volumes, network utilization and fuel-cost movements
- Merchant churn, seller incentive levels and advertising monetization growth
- Regulatory actions involving e-commerce discounting, dark stores, gig workers, data use or competition policy
- Capital raises, aggressive pricing moves or strategic partnerships by major domestic and global competitors
- Track whether Eternal’s elevated revenue growth is accompanied by improving quick-commerce unit economics, order density and lower per-order fulfillment costs.
- Watch Nykaa for sustained beauty-category growth, expanding private-label contribution, lower promotional intensity and better fashion profitability.
- Monitor Delhivery’s shipment growth, utilization, freight yield and EBITDA progression as e-commerce and D2C volumes expand.
- Assess IndiaMART’s paid-supplier additions, renewal rates and buyer conversion as small merchants digitize procurement.
- Expect offline chains and consumer brands to increase spending on omnichannel fulfillment, retail media, loyalty data and direct-to-consumer storefronts.
- Look for consolidation among smaller logistics, hyperlocal delivery, seller-enablement and retail-software providers that cannot match incumbents’ scale.