Swiggy expands Noice beyond staples, testing limits of private labels in quick commerce
Swiggy is rapidly scaling its in-house brand Noice from 200 to 350 SKUs, and hiring top-tier talent from Flipkart and Oyo to transform the label into a standalone consumer brand.
BENGALURU : Swiggy’s private-label brand, Noice, which debuted on its quick-commerce platform Instamart, has expanded rapidly by adding contract manufacturers across various categories, including bakery, snacks, confectionery, dairy, eggs, and other perishable foods.
The push has expanded Noice’s range and supplier base since August last year. Two people aware of the company’s operations said Noice has grown from about 200 stock-keeping units (SKUs) to about 350 now, and from about 40 contract manufacturers to close to 70 over the same period, as Swiggy adds products across new categories.
What began as a small-batch, premium range—centred on Indian snacks, sweets, cookies and baked items sourced from small kitchens and manufacturers—has widened sharply in recent months as Noice adds more categories and partners, said the second person aware of Instamart’s operations.
“Recent additions include beverages, ready-to-cook items, and dairy and fresh items like eggs, dosa batter and paneer," the person said.
Industry executives and analysts tracking quick commerce said most platforms already sell private labels—such as Tata Digital-owned BigBasket’s BB Royal and Fresho, Zomato-owned Blinkit’s Whole Farm, and Zepto’s Daily Good and Relish—but Noice’s pace of expansion suggests Swiggy is building it as a standalone brand, not merely a cheaper, in-house label.
Swiggy has also been adding senior talent around the effort. Royan Mody, the former director for private labels at Flipkart, is leading Noice at Swiggy Instamart. Swiggy has also hired Mayur Hola, who previously led global brand roles at OYO, as vice-president, brand, in a mandate spanning Swiggy’s businesses, including Instamart.
The margin game
Quick-commerce platforms have struggled to post steady profits, even as the category scales and listed parent companies push for expansion. Swiggy’s Instamart reported adjusted revenue of ₹1,038 crore in the July–September quarter, up from ₹513 crore a year earlier, but its adjusted Ebitda loss widened to ₹849 crore from ₹359 crore over the same period, weighing on Swiggy’s overall loss.
At Zomato-owned Blinkit, adjusted Ebitda loss narrowed sequentially to ₹156 crore in Q2 FY26 from ₹162 crore in the previous quarter, even as the company stepped up store additions and reported a sharp jump in adjusted revenue after moving to an inventory-led model. Zepto doubled its sales in FY25 to ₹9,668.8 crore, but the net loss widened by 177% to ₹3,367.3 crore, reflecting the cost of scaling amid an increasingly competitive market.
- Noice has expanded from 200 to 350 SKUs and increased its manufacturing partners from 40 to 70 in under a year.
- Swiggy is signalling serious intent by hiring veterans from Flipkart and Oyo to lead the private-label push.
- Private labels offer gross margins that are nearly triple the margins typically seen from third-party brands.
- There is a growing risk of friction with D2C brands and established FMCG players if Swiggy prioritizes its own brands in search results.
- Early data from rivals suggests users may drop off if they are pushed toward private labels when they are specifically looking for trusted brands like Aashirvaad.
Industry executives and analysts said players are leaning on levers such as private labels and advertising income from brand partners to improve margins. But Swiggy’s fast-expanding Noice range suggests it is leaning harder on the private-label play by going deeper into packaged foods and consumer staples to differentiate Instamart and lift unit economics.
Industry estimates suggest that private labels now account for roughly 20-25% of sales in staples such as grains and rice, as well as other everyday grocery items, across quick-commerce platforms, including Zepto, BigBasket, Blinkit, and Swiggy, as they push more in-house brands in these categories.
“Quick commerce firms get anywhere between 10-15% in net margins while working with third-party brands to sell products on the platform. With private labels, this can go up to 35-40% in gross margins, even after sharing a part with manufacturers, as in the case of Swiggy’s Noice products," said Pradyumna Nag, director at Prequate, a management and financial advisory firm.
Consumer pushback
Quick-commerce firms have largely kept their private labels to staples and everyday grocery categories—similar to what supermarkets and hypermarkets do to improve margins. Swiggy, however, appears to be pushing Noice beyond the typical staples play, adding hundreds of SKUs across categories.
But the strategy carries execution and competitive risks. Quick-commerce apps have become increasingly important as a key discovery and sales channel for new-age consumer brands, as well as large packaged-goods companies, raising the prospect of friction with brand partners if platform-owned labels receive disproportionate visibility.
A venture capital investor in the consumer and D2C space said quick commerce typically contributes about 2-3% of sales for a new brand, while modern trade contributes about 10-15%, with the rest coming from a mix of the brand’s own online channels and marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart.
“Even though the 2-3% seems low as a share, it is still massive for a brand with sales of ₹10,000 crore and above every year, as it means anywhere from ₹200-300 crore worth of sales come from quick commerce," the investor said, requesting anonymity.
The product manager at a rival quick-commerce platform, quoted earlier in the story, said the company experienced higher drop-offs at checkout when it attempted to promote its own private labels in staples through search rankings.
“Whenever we tried to show our rice, atta or sugar labels upfront, users dropped off because they come to the app in the first place looking for known brands such as Aashirvaad and Parry’s Sugar," the product manager said. “After a while, we stopped prioritising our own brands."
Pradyumna Nag of Prequate said Noice resembles Amazon’s Solimo-style playbook, where product selection is guided by a platform’s internal data on “what’s selling where".
Power equation
He flagged a common criticism of such models: e-commerce and quick-commerce platforms can enter categories after sellers on their platforms have already done the hard work of building demand—managing inventory risk, returns and consumer awareness—but end up competing with the platform itself.
With Noice, Nag added, the model may not be profitable yet, but it is scaling faster than many e-commerce private-label programmes. Swiggy does not directly own manufacturing for Noice today, but Nag said control can still be exercised through dependence.
“Amazon doesn’t own the manufacturing…If you see the company or definition of influence, where there’s a single customer or more than 90% of the revenue comes from them… I don’t need to own equity in order for me to assert control," he said.
Eventually, smaller D2C and packaged-goods brands may find it harder to negotiate terms as quick-commerce platforms deepen their own private-label push, said Nag. He described it as a ‘chokehold’ dynamic, arguing that quick commerce has become a significant channel due to its fast cash cycle, but bargaining power varies sharply by brand size.
Large incumbent brands like Britannia can credibly threaten to pull out, Nag said, because consumers could switch platforms if a big brand’s products disappear. Smaller brands typically lack that leverage, he added, since many shoppers search for generic categories, such as ‘chips’, rather than looking up a niche brand by name, leaving platforms with the upper hand in search placement and discovery.
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