1How big is India’s food services market?
The market is formalising. NRAI projects the organised segment to grow 13.2% a year, well ahead of the market as a whole, and to pass half of it, at 52.9%, by 2028. The Swiggy and Bain “How India Eats” study sizes the same market at about ₹5,50,000 crore in 2025 and ₹9,00,000–10,00,000 crore by 2030, growing 10–12% a year, with 70% of spending in the top 50 cities. The two studies use different scopes and base years, so cite each on its own; do not blend them.
| Measure | NRAI IFSR 2024 | Swiggy and Bain, 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Market size | ₹5,69,487 crore (FY24) | ₹5,50,000 crore (2025) |
| Projection | ₹7,76,511 crore by FY28 | ₹9,00,000–10,00,000 crore by 2030 |
| Growth | 8.1% a year (organised: 13.2%) | 10–12% a year |
| Finding | Organised share reaches 52.9% by 2028 | 70% of spending in the top 50 cities |
| Employment | 85.5 lakh people | — |
2What does a restaurant’s cost structure look like?
Operators commonly plan for food at 28–35% of sales, staff at 20–25%, rent at 8–15%, and a prime cost (food and staff together) of 60–65%. These are rules of thumb, not audited figures: India has no public, audited dataset of restaurant costs, and a page that calls these ranges official is overstating them.
The ranges still drive real decisions. A quick-service kitchen at 25–30% food cost and a fine-dining room at 30–35% can both be normal, while the gap between a 62% and a 70% prime cost is often the gap between a profitable outlet and one that is slowly failing. Staff turnover is part of the cost too: IMARC puts attrition at chain quick-service and casual-dining restaurants at 30–40% a year. Hold your own numbers against the ranges; your books are the truth.
| Cost line | Share of sales | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Food | 28–35% | Operator benchmark |
| Staff | 20–25% | Operator benchmark |
| Rent | 8–15% | Operator benchmark |
| Prime cost, food and staff | 60–65% | Operator benchmark |
3What do the delivery apps cost a restaurant?
Headline commissions run at roughly 15–30% of the order, by the restaurant’s volume and city (Sacra, 2024). Add the payment fees, the 18% GST charged on the app’s fees, ads and packaging, and the total commonly lands at 25–35% of the order. Neither app publishes one standard rate, and Swiggy’s IPO filings do not state one either.
At platform level, analysts put the apps’ take rate, their revenue as a share of the value of orders, at 19–22% in FY25. About 10% of India’s population orders food through the apps (Sacra, 2024), and Statista’s outlook puts online meal delivery at 21.5% of the population in 2026.
4What GST and FSSAI fees does a restaurant pay?
Standalone restaurants, takeaway and cloud kitchens charge 5% GST with no input tax credit. A restaurant in a hotel where any room costs ₹7,500 or more a night charges 18%, with input tax credit. Zomato and Swiggy have paid the GST on food ordered through them since 1 Jan 2022, under section 9(5) of the CGST Act.
| Situation | Rate | Input tax credit |
|---|---|---|
| Standalone restaurant, takeaway or cloud kitchen | 5% | No |
| Restaurant in a hotel with any room at ₹7,500 or more a night | 18% | Yes |
| Food ordered through Zomato or Swiggy, section 9(5) | 5%, paid by the app | No |
| Composition scheme, turnover up to ₹1.5 crore | 5% | No |
FSSAI’s turnover limits changed on 1 Apr 2026. Registrations and licences issued from that date have perpetual validity; the annual fee is still payable.
| FSSAI | Annual turnover | Fee a year |
|---|---|---|
| Registration | Up to ₹1.5 crore | ₹100 |
| State licence | Above ₹1.5 crore, up to ₹50 crore | ₹2,000–5,000 |
| Central licence | Above ₹50 crore | ₹7,500 |
5How fast are cloud kitchens and UPI growing?
India’s cloud-kitchen market was worth an estimated $1.1–1.3 billion in 2024 (IMARC, TechSci), and TechSci projects about $2.8 billion by 2030. At the counter, UPI carried 85.5% of India’s digital payments by volume in the second half of 2025 (RBI, via IBEF): paying by phone is the default, not a trend.
Two figures that circulate widely are not reliable. Counts of how many cloud kitchens operate in India mix delivery-only listings with physical kitchens and date from 2021. And the “39%” share of restaurants said to use point-of-sale software comes from a survey of retail, not restaurants. No reliable published figure exists for either.
6Do 73% of Indian restaurants fail?
No source we can find supports it. The claim is everywhere, and it traces to no primary study: not NRAI, and no government dataset. Studies in the United States put first-year failure at roughly 17–30% and five-year failure at 50–60%; they are the best anchors there are, and they are not Indian figures.
The one Indian closure figure with a real source is about the pandemic: NRAI reported that the industry shrank by more than half in FY21. That describes 2021, not the odds of a restaurant opening in 2026.
7How to use and cite this data
The CSV holds the 32 figures on this page, each with its value, unit, year, source, a link to the source and a reliability rating: strong for a primary source, moderate for reputable secondary research. It is free to use under CC BY 4.0. Cite it as “CountStand, Indian Restaurant Industry Statistics 2026”, with a link to this page.
None of these figures comes from CountStand’s customers. They are public figures, gathered and checked against their sources.
countstand-india-restaurant-statistics-2026.csv
8Questions
The NRAI India Food Services Report 2024 puts India’s food services market at ₹5,69,487 crore in FY24, growing 8.1% a year to a projected ₹7,76,511 crore by FY28. The Swiggy and Bain “How India Eats” study puts it at about ₹5,50,000 crore in 2025. The two use different scopes and base years, so cite them separately.
No primary study of Indian restaurant failure rates has been published. The often-repeated “73% of Indian restaurants fail” has no source we can trace. Studies in the United States put first-year failure at roughly 17–30% and five-year failure at 50–60%; those are not Indian figures.
Standalone restaurants, takeaway and cloud kitchens charge 5% GST with no input tax credit. A restaurant in a hotel where any room costs ₹7,500 or more a night charges 18%, with input tax credit. On food ordered through Zomato or Swiggy, the app pays the GST under section 9(5) of the CGST Act, since 1 Jan 2022.
Published partner terms and analyst research put the commission at roughly 15–30% of the order, by volume and city. With payment fees, 18% GST on the app’s fees, ads and packaging, the total commonly lands at 25–35% of the order. Neither app publishes one standard rate.
From 1 Apr 2026, registration covers turnover up to ₹1.5 crore at ₹100 a year, a state licence covers up to ₹50 crore at ₹2,000–5,000 a year, and a central licence above ₹50 crore costs ₹7,500 a year. Registrations and licences issued from 1 Apr 2026 have perpetual validity, and the annual fee is still payable.