Fears of a lockdown on Tuesday, according to Grofers CEO, drove a spike in grocery delivery carts.

 As people feared another lockdown in India, Grofers CEO and Co-Founder Albinder Dhindsa tweeted last night that more than 600,000 carts had been produced on the platform and were waiting to be checked out. Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a speech to the nation on Tuesday at 8:45 p.m., but he did not declare a lockdown, much to the relief of many. Instead, he urged state governments to accept a lockdown only as a last resort in dealing with the ongoing COVID crisis.

Since the last national lockdown in March 2020, online grocery delivery in India has risen to prominence. The country's online grocery company accounts for less than one percent of overall grocery sales. Nonetheless, the pandemic has moved many new consumers to online grocery platforms including Grofers and Big Basket, which is owned by the Tata Group.

Amazon and Flipkart have been in the online grocery market for a long time. Last year's lockdown, however, allowed Swiggy and Zomato to deliver groceries. Both, however, shut down their grocery-focused online marketplaces months after they launched due to difficulties interacting with offline retailers.

Experts believe that, despite low penetration and challenges in getting consumers and merchants online, the online grocery market, especially in urban areas of the country, has a huge opportunity to develop.

According to a recent study by consulting firm RedSeer, India's online grocery market could reach $24 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) by 2025 (roughly Rs. 1,81,200 crores). The entry of new players such as Reliance Industries' JioMart is also expected to help the market develop.

However, as both Amazon and Flipkart have begun to face restrictions in shipping non-essential products such as electronic goods and furniture, holding grocery deliveries has become increasingly necessary.

Last year's nationwide lockdown had a major effect on Amazon and Flipkart's companies, as they were unable to deliver non-essential orders for several weeks. Due to state restrictions, both companies have recently reduced their supplies to essential goods only in Maharashtra and Delhi, bringing the situation full circle.