Delhivery CEO Sahil Barua has criticised Amazon’s recent expansion into third-party logistics (3PL), calling it “an old product in a new wrapper” during the company’s latest quarterly earnings call.
Commenting on Amazon’s decision to open its logistics infrastructure to external merchants, Barua questioned the strategic value of the move and said the model had already been attempted in the past.
According to Barua, one of the key challenges in Amazon’s 3PL push is the imbalance between Amazon’s own shipment volumes and those of external merchants using Amazon Logistics. He argued that third-party sellers would remain “absolutely minuscule” compared to Amazon’s internal operations, potentially affecting prioritisation and customer service quality.
Barua also raised concerns around last-mile delivery execution, stating that delivery personnel under time pressure would naturally prioritise Amazon’s own orders over third-party shipments.
“That’s the way first-party logistics are designed,” he said during the earnings interaction.
The Delhivery chief further argued that captive logistics networks operated by ecommerce companies are structurally more expensive than neutral third-party logistics providers.
“For customers, I am not entirely sure why they would willingly stick with any captive network which is higher cost and does not have the ability to prioritise their interests,” Barua added.
Amazon recently expanded its logistics services in India, enabling businesses to use its warehousing, transportation, and delivery infrastructure even for orders placed outside the Amazon marketplace.
Barua also weighed in on consolidation in India’s express logistics sector, stating that the current market structure involving Delhivery, Blue Dart, and Shadowfax appears “sensible and appropriate”.
He further said he does not see any structural advantage held by XpressBees over existing listed logistics players.
On aggressive expansion strategies in the sector, Barua remarked that some firms had “voluntarily set their balance sheets on fire” during previous growth cycles, specifically naming Ecom Express and XpressBees.
Notably, Ecom Express became part of Delhivery in April last year.
Financially, Delhivery reported a 30% year-on-year increase in operating revenue to ₹2,850 crore in Q4 FY26, while net profit remained largely flat at ₹72 crore.
Shares of Delhivery were trading around ₹456 during afternoon trade, giving the company a market capitalisation of nearly ₹34,175 crore (approximately $3.7 billion).
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