# Quick commerce beyond the metros: dark stores by city tier

As of 8 November 2026, 60% of the 13,789 quick-commerce dark stores Rewalto counts in India are outside the 8 metro cities. 5,017 are in tier 2 cities and 3,199 in tier 3. JioMart has the most outside the metros, 77% of its stores; BigBasket the fewest, 42%.

## Key facts

- Dark stores with a known city tier: 13,789 (counted 8 Nov 2026)
- Outside the metros: 60% (8,216)
- Tier 1 Metro: 5,573 stores (40%) in 8 cities
- Tier 2: 5,017 stores (36%) in 89 cities
- Tier 3: 3,199 stores (23%) in 588 cities
- Tier 3 cities served by one app only: 264 of 588
- Tiers from: Ministry of Finance house rent allowance classes X, Y and Z

## What the count shows

- 40% of the stores are in the 8 metro cities. The other 60% are spread over 677 cities: 89 tier 2 cities with 5,017 stores, and 588 tier 3 cities with 3,199.
- JioMart has 77% of its stores outside the metros. Flipkart Minutes, Zepto and BigBasket have most of theirs in the metros.
- In 264 of the 588 tier 3 cities with a store, only one app has a store there; in 219 of them that app is JioMart.

## Each app by city tier

Counted 8 Nov 2026.

| App | Stores | Metro | Tier 2 | Tier 3 | Outside the metros |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Blinkit](https://rewalto.com/data/dark-stores/app/blinkit) | 5,225 | 1,894 | 2,114 | 1,217 | 64% |
| [JioMart](https://rewalto.com/data/dark-stores/app/jiomart) | 3,109 | 714 | 1,025 | 1,370 | 77% |
| [Flipkart Minutes](https://rewalto.com/data/dark-stores/app/flipkart-minutes) | 1,618 | 869 | 574 | 175 | 46% |
| [Zepto](https://rewalto.com/data/dark-stores/app/zepto) | 1,521 | 864 | 537 | 120 | 43% |
| [Swiggy Instamart](https://rewalto.com/data/dark-stores/app/instamart) | 1,348 | 666 | 462 | 220 | 51% |
| [BigBasket](https://rewalto.com/data/dark-stores/app/bigbasket) | 923 | 532 | 299 | 92 | 42% |
| [DMart](https://rewalto.com/data/dark-stores/app/dmart) | 45 | 34 | 6 | 5 | 24% |

## Tier 2 cities with the most dark stores

| City | Dark stores | Apps |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Gurugram](https://rewalto.com/data/dark-stores/city/gurugram) | 425 | 6 |
| [Lucknow](https://rewalto.com/data/dark-stores/city/lucknow) | 282 | 6 |
| [Ghaziabad](https://rewalto.com/data/dark-stores/city/ghaziabad) | 235 | 6 |
| [Noida](https://rewalto.com/data/dark-stores/city/noida) | 223 | 6 |
| [Jaipur](https://rewalto.com/data/dark-stores/city/jaipur) | 198 | 5 |

## Tier 3 cities with the most dark stores

| City | Dark stores | Apps |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Thane](https://rewalto.com/data/dark-stores/city/thane) | 127 | 7 |
| [Greater Noida](https://rewalto.com/data/dark-stores/city/greater-noida) | 100 | 6 |
| [Navi Mumbai](https://rewalto.com/data/dark-stores/city/navi-mumbai) | 81 | 7 |
| [Panaji](https://rewalto.com/data/dark-stores/city/panaji) | 38 | 3 |
| [Patiala](https://rewalto.com/data/dark-stores/city/patiala) | 38 | 4 |

## Read it with care

- This counts stores, not orders or sales. A metro store can deliver far more orders than a store in a smaller city.
- JioMart's count includes Reliance stores that fulfil JioMart orders, which is why so many of its stores are in smaller cities.
- 16 stores have no city Rewalto could place in a tier, and are left out of the shares.
- A suburb or satellite town with its own name counts in its own tier, not the metro's.
- The tier classes come from a 2015 government order based on the 2011 Census, so a fast-growing city can sit in a lower tier than its size today.

## How Rewalto counts

Rewalto finds dark stores by checking which store each app assigns to a pin code, across every pin code it covers, every week. A store is counted once however many pin codes it serves. Each store's city is then sorted into the tier core publishes for it. Tier 1 metro, tier 2 and tier 3 are the house rent allowance classes X, Y and Z of the Ministry of Finance order named below. Rewalto does not make the tiers up or move a city between them. Counts are what the apps show to shoppers, so they are a floor, not a census, and they are not figures from the companies.

Tier source: Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure, O.M. No. 2/5/2017-E.II(B) dated 07.07.2017 (Seventh CPC), Annexure: the X/Y/Z cities of O.M. No. 2/5/2014-E.II(B) dated 21.07.2015 (Census 2011), effective 1 July 2017.

Rewalto is not affiliated with any of these apps. Apps are data sources.

## Questions people ask

### How many quick commerce dark stores are outside the metros?

8,216 of the 13,789 Rewalto counted on 8 November 2026, or 60%. 5,017 are in tier 2 cities and 3,199 in tier 3.

### Which quick commerce app has the most stores in tier 2 and tier 3 cities?

By share of its own stores, JioMart: 77% are outside the metros. By count: Blinkit 3,331, JioMart 2,395 and Flipkart Minutes 749.

### Which tier 2 city has the most dark stores?

Gurugram, with 425 stores on 6 apps on 8 November 2026, then Lucknow (282) and Ghaziabad (235).

### Which tier 3 city has the most dark stores?

Thane, with 127 stores on 7 apps on 8 November 2026, then Greater Noida (100) and Navi Mumbai (81).

### What are tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3 cities in India?

Rewalto uses the classes in the Ministry of Finance order on house rent allowance. Tier 1 Metro: Cities of house rent allowance class X: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune. Tier 2: Cities of house rent allowance class Y, as the order names them (Jaipur, Lucknow, Gurugram, Noida, Chandigarh, Kochi and others), with the cities its para 6 gives Y rates (Mohali, Panchkula, Shillong, Port Blair). Tier 3: Every other city (house rent allowance class Z).

### Does a store outside the metros mean the same sales?

No. This is a count of stores. It does not say how many orders each store delivers or what it sells.

### How often is this updated?

Every week, from the same count as the dark-store pages. The page shows the date of the latest count, 8 November 2026.

### How does Rewalto count dark stores by city tier?

Rewalto finds dark stores by checking which store each app assigns to a pin code, across every pin code it covers, every week. A store is counted once however many pin codes it serves. Each store's city is then sorted into the tier core publishes for it. Tier 1 metro, tier 2 and tier 3 are the house rent allowance classes X, Y and Z of the Ministry of Finance order named below. Rewalto does not make the tiers up or move a city between them. Counts are what the apps show to shoppers, so they are a floor, not a census, and they are not figures from the companies.

## Related

- [Dark stores in India, by app, city and pin](https://rewalto.com/data/dark-stores)
- [Quick commerce market share in India](https://rewalto.com/data/quick-commerce-market-share)
- [The cities each app serves](https://rewalto.com/data/dark-stores/cities-by-app)
- [What is a dark store](https://rewalto.com/blog/what-is-a-dark-store)
- [Quick commerce glossary](https://rewalto.com/glossary/quick-commerce)
- [Is there an API for India's quick-commerce apps?](https://rewalto.com/guides/quick-commerce-api-india)

[Explore what Rewalto collects](https://rewalto.com)

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Canonical page: https://rewalto.com/data/quick-commerce-beyond-the-metros
Last content change: 2026-11-06