Amazon India has its ambitious initiative to expand its rapid commerce division, Amazon Now, nationwide. The firm will also grow to operate in 100 cities and create over 1,000 micro-fulfilment centres in a move to strengthen its presence in the rapidly expanding quick commerce area in India. This growth will be supported by a major investment of ₹2,800 crore, which is part of the company’s higher commitments of $35 billion in India by 2030.

Target cities and operations

Currently, Amazon Now is available in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru with approximately 300 micro-fulfillment centres. This infrastructure will be increased threefold with the new strategy, which will give Amazon the capacity to deliver groceries, daily essentials, and household products with unprecedented speed. Expanding to 1,000+ centres, Amazon Now will be focused on investing in the last-mile delivery infrastructure and guaranteeing accelerated services both in the metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas.

The expansion will be expensive, with a wide coverage of cities as a sign of Amazon’s expansion into more markets. This moderated stance indicates that Amazon has not only been consolidating its operations in proven urban centres but also aiming at tapping into the markets in emerging markets where rapid uptake of quick commerce is increasing.

Role of micro-fulfilment centres and competition

The rapid growth exhibited by Amazon is at a point when the Indian market of quick commerce is experiencing fierce competition. Several competitors are scaling their networks to gain market share.

Flipkart is aiming to reach over 1,500 quick commerce dark stores by the year 2026. It now runs between 750 and 850 dark stores and has grown aggressively, especially in tier II and tier III markets. As of December 2025, Eternal CEO Albinder Dhindsa had a target of reaching 2,100 stores, and has stated it aims to reach 3,000 stores in March 2027. The scale-up adopted by Flipkart to expand to more than 1,500 stores by 2026 places it nearer to Blinkit in terms of network size. Swiggy Instamart had 1,136 active dark stores by December 2025, and Zepto had approximately 1,150 by the end of 2025.

Amazon Now, with its expected expansion to 1,000+ micro-fulfillment centres, is already establishing itself as a significant player, looking to directly compete or even exceed the scope of established companies. The focus of Amazon Now lies in micro-fulfillment centres. These are small warehouses, strategically situated, resulting in quick delivery of groceries and essentials within minutes.

 With expansion to more than 1,000 centres, Amazon hopes to cut down its delivery time and enable better customer convenience in both urban and semi-urban regions, and improve its last-mile logistics to compete favorably with its competitors. Its infrastructure-based model provides scalability without affecting operational efficiency.

Conclusion

The move by Amazon India to extend Amazon Now in 100 cities that have over 1,000 micro-fulfillment centres is a landmark development in the quick commerce sector. The move is supported by a ₹2,800 crore investment and is one of the legs of a $35 billion investment by 2030 that aims at underscoring the long-term Indian vision of Amazon. With metro and non-metro cities in its scope, Amazon Now can compete with such well-established participants in the fast-evolving e-commerce sector as Flipkart, Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and Zepto.