Blinkit rolls out 10-minute ambulance service in Gurugram

Zomato-owned quick-commerce platform Blinkit has introduced a 10-minute ambulance service, starting in Gurugram, its chief executive Albinder Dhindsa said on Thursday.

“We are taking our first step towards solving the problem of providing quick and reliable ambulance service in our cities. The first five ambulances will be on the road in Gurugram starting today,” Dhinda wrote in a post on microblogging site X.



Consumers could request an ambulance through the Blinkit app. According to Dhindsa, the platform plans to expand this service to all major cities within the next two years.

“Our ambulances are equipped with essential life-saving equipment, including oxygen cylinders, AED (automated external defibrillator), stretcher, monitor, suction machine and essential emergency medicines and injections,” he said. Each ambulance will also have a paramedic and an assistant.

Dhindsa said the ambulance service will be available at an “affordable cost” and that the company will invest more in this area.

Several emergency health services startups have raised funding over the past few years. These include Medulance which raised $3 million in April led by Alkemi Growth Capital and Red Health, which raised $20 million in a funding round in May led by Jungle Ventures, with participation from Alteria Capital, HealthQuad and HealthX.

The new service from Blinkit comes at a time when quick-commerce platforms are trying to broaden their offerings.

Apart from the sale of groceries and other consumer goods, Blinkit had earlier launched services such as deliveries of printouts and passport-size photographs.

Recently, the company forayed into the 10-minute food delivery space with a standalone app Bistro. Zomato’s rival Swiggy operates 10-minute food delivery offerings under Bolt, while quick-commerce firm Zepto operates Café. Meanwhile, BigBasket plans to introduce food delivery services and launch pharmaceutical deliveries in partnership with epharmacy platform Tata 1mg.

The quick commerce market in India is expected to be worth $42-55 billion by 2030, as per a recent report by Morgan Stanley.