Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath gives clarion call: What India’s e-commerce giants can learn from Mumbai’s 135-year-old dabbawalas

Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha and one of India's most influential entrepreneurial voices, has a unique gift of cutting through the noise, and ask the right questions. Taking to X (formerly Twitter) today, Kamath drew a stark comparison between Mumbai's iconic dabbawalas and what it can teach India's e-commerce ecosystem.

Kamath's basic point is essentially a dilemma: what happens to logistics as the economy grows and wages rise? Kamath points out that we are in an era where speed is fetishized, and convenience often trumps experience. Therefore, India's entrepreneurial minds have a thing or two to learn from one of the most impeccably maintained model of business efficiency: the dabbawalas of Mumbai.

The Dabbawala Blueprint: A Lesson in Precision and Sustainability

For 135 years, Mumbai’s dabbawalas have been executing a logistics miracle daily. Without the aid of digital tracking or AI optimization, they deliver over 2 lakh home-cooked meals with near-zero errors. Their error rate? A mind-boggling 1 in 16 million deliveries, as per the figure quoted by Kamath.

In a world where logistics giants pour billions into tech-driven supply chains, these men—many of whom are uneducated—run a system so efficient it has been studied at Harvard, praised by global leaders, and even awarded Six Sigma certification. 

Can High-Tech Match Their Low-Tech Perfection?

Kamath’s tweet raises a fundamental question about scalability and sustainability. “If GDP per capita goes to $5,000, what will delivery wages have to rise to, and is it sustainable at that point?” The dabbawala model, where workers earn between ₹9,000–12,000 per month while delivering up to 30 tiffins daily, stands in stark contrast to the astronomical costs associated with modern last-mile logistics, as per Kamath.

Their system is simple yet profound:

Morning Pickups: Tiffins are collected from homes by 8:30 AM.

Train Transport: They are sorted and transported via Mumbai’s local trains, loaded in under 40 seconds.

Final Delivery: The right dabbas reach the right offices by lunchtime.

Reverse Logistics: Empty tiffins are collected and returned home by evening.

No strikes since 1890, no reliance on fuel-guzzling vehicles, and no data-driven algorithms—just an old-school trust-based system where customers even send valuables in their tiffins.

The Quick Commerce Paradox: When Speed Kills Experience

Kamath recounted a personal anecdote from his own life about impulse-buying a ₹20,000 pair of Hoka shoes via a quick-commerce platform—and instantly regretting it. According to him, this raises another critical question: Is there a cap on Average Order Value (AOV) for such models?

High-value purchases often come with an experiential component—a store visit, a fitting, an expert recommendation. In his words, “Commodity is different from brand, if that makes sense.”

India’s rapid adoption of quick-commerce has made essentials like groceries and medicine more accessible, but what about non-commodities? How many consumers are truly willing to forgo the traditional store experience for premium purchases?

The dabbawala model, by contrast, thrives on necessity, trust, and predictability rather than impulse and instant gratification.

The Evolution of the Dabbawala Model: Adapting to a Changing India

While Mumbai’s dabbawalas have long been an immutable force, even they have had to adapt. As per the data shared by Kamath, the pandemic dealt them a severe blow—deliveries plummeted by 66%, and 1,500 workers lost their jobs. Their response? A pivot into digital services. In fact, these digital dabbawalas started offering last-mile deliveries, going beyond food and even started delivering documents and laundry. Similarly, many even opened cloud kitchens, taking orders via their local apps in order to make do in the post-COVID world.

The Future of Indian Logistics: What Kamath’s Observations Mean

Kamath’s tweet can be seen as not just an idle reflection. Instead, it is a roadmap for the future of logistics in an economy on the rise.

As GDP per capita increases and wage structures shift, the gig economy model of ultra-fast, low-margin delivery will come under pressure. The question is: will we continue pushing speed at all costs, or will we embrace sustainable, efficient, and human-centric systems like the dabbawalas?

For India, the answer might lie in a hybrid approach—where technology augments, rather than replaces, time-tested logistics wisdom. If the world’s largest companies can learn from a century-old network of bicycle-riding men in white uniforms, perhaps we are asking the wrong questions about the future of delivery.

Maybe the dabbawalas had the answer all along.