A $25–30 billion opportunity is opening up in India’s digital commerce infrastructure, with companies such as Shiprocket, Razorpay and Delhivery emerging as the new “digital rails” powering brands beyond traditional marketplaces.
According to a recent report by McKinsey & Company, Indian e-commerce is undergoing what it describes as a “great unbundling”, with logistics, payments, warehousing, checkout, cross-border shipping and returns being broken into modular services that brands can assemble as needed.
For over a decade, online sellers largely depended on large marketplaces that provided end-to-end services in exchange for commissions and control over customer relationships. While that model accelerated digital adoption, it restricted brands’ margins, access to data and control over customer experience.
Now, instead of selling exclusively through a marketplace, a small apparel brand can build its own website, integrate payments via Razorpay, use Shiprocket for multi-courier shipping and tap Delhivery for fulfilment. This plug-and-play approach allows brands to mix and match services without being locked into bundled contracts.
The report likens these infrastructure players to telecom networks that enabled mobile apps — foundational layers on which thousands of businesses can operate. Shiprocket aggregates courier partners and enables nationwide shipping, including tier-2 and rural pin codes. Delhivery, which began as a logistics partner for large e-commerce companies, now offers fulfilment-as-a-service to direct-to-consumer brands. Razorpay has expanded beyond payments into banking and credit products for businesses.
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The unbundling is shifting bargaining power towards brands. With multiple providers competing across payments, warehousing and delivery, sellers can switch vendors more easily and negotiate better terms.
At the same time, infrastructure firms are expanding into higher-margin adjacencies such as embedded finance, analytics, fraud prevention and international trade support. The report suggests that this layering of services, rather than core logistics or payment processing alone, will drive the bulk of the projected $25-30 billion opportunity.
The benefits are not limited to metro-based start-ups. Sellers from smaller towns are building niche brands in handicrafts, regional fashion and speciality foods, using these digital rails to reach national and global markets. Expanded pin-code coverage has widened access to rural and semi-urban consumers, while integrated cross-border solutions are lowering barriers for exports.
However, the space remains crowded. As new entrants target specific layers of the stack, larger players are expected to respond through acquisitions and consolidation.
If projections hold, the biggest winners in India’s next phase of digital commerce may not be the marketplaces selling products, but the companies building the infrastructure on which that commerce runs.
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