Blinkit faces new food safety rules on expiry dates and…

Dates and batch numbers on every listing

India's top food regulator is preparing tighter rules for quick delivery online platforms, including Blinkit, Swiggy Ltd.'s Instamart and Amazon Now, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. If they go ahead, people shopping in the Blinkit app would see more detail on each food product before they buy it.

Bloomberg's report says the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) wants online listings to display manufacturing and expiry dates plus batch numbers. It also wants platforms held responsible when a manufacturer's claims mislead shoppers. Officials are also considering mandating that listings include images and the location details of dark kitchens, while stepping up scrutiny of dark stores to verify that storage, frozen goods included, is handled correctly. FSSAI chief executive Rajit Punhani said the regulator is "trying to tighten and make them accountable."

Enforcement already under way

The proposals come after a period of stepped-up enforcement. Authorities have cited Eternal Ltd.'s Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, Walmart Inc.-owned Flipkart and the India arm of Amazon.com Inc. for issues ranging from misbranding and selling prohibited products to operating with invalid licenses. Regulators carried out about 700,000 inspections between April and September, according to Retail Intel, which also reported that no date has been set for the new rules.

Ahead on stock, says Bernstein

Separately, a study by brokerage Bernstein, reported in the past week, ranked Blinkit first among Indian quick-commerce apps for product availability, with an average in-stock rate of 94.4%. Flipkart Minutes ranked second with 88.7% product availability, followed by Swiggy Instamart at 83.8% and Zepto at 82.5%. Bernstein tracked 150 stock-keeping units (SKUs) in grocery, fresh produce and non-grocery categories. The analysis covered a 10-day period, with availability checked across seven time slots daily. Business Today noted that the work covered at least three PIN codes each in Mumbai, Gurugram and Bengaluru, so results could differ elsewhere.

Blinkit is a quick-commerce app owned by Eternal, the parent of Zomato. It delivers groceries, fresh produce, household goods, beauty products and electronics in India. The latest version, 18.37.1, carries only bug fixes and performance improvements, according to the developer.