From Chennai’s ₹1L condom buyer to Mumbai’s ₹16L Red Bull king: How India Instamarted in 2025

If you thought your late-night ice cream craving was excessive, wait until you hear how the rest of the country shopped this year. Swiggy Instamart has just dropped its annual “How India Instamarted in 2025”, and the results are a chaotic, hilarious, and fascinating mix of luxury splurges and bizarre necessities.

From 3-minute iPhone 17 deliveries in Pune and Ahmedabad, to a single user from Kochi ordering enough curry leaves to garnish a feast for a small army, here is exactly what went into India’s carts in 2025.

The "Planning Ahead" award goes to...

In perhaps the most head-turning stat of the year, a single user in Chennai placed 228 separate orders for condoms, racking up a total bill of ₹1,06,398.

They weren't alone in their preparedness. The report reveals that 1 in every 127 orders on Instamart contained a condom, with September seeing a 24% surge in sales. It seems Indians were busy "instamarting" more than just groceries this year.

The Big Spenders: Wings, Noodles, and Gold

While some shopped for essentials, others shopped like billionaires on a budget spree.

• Pet parent of the year: A single user in Chennai pampered their pets with ₹2.41 lakh worth of supplies.
• Pure Sone-Ki-Chaal energy: Who needs the stock market? Users tapped into ₹15.16 lakh worth of gold in 2025.
• Dil garden-garden: Romance isn't dead; it's just delivered. One Hyderabadi spent ₹31,240 on roses alone.
• Energy king of Mumbai: One Mumbai user spent a staggering ₹16.3 lakh solely on Red Bull Sugar-Free.
• Noodle obsession: A Bengaluru user shelled out ₹4,36,153 on noodles alone.
• Ultimate tech flex: In Hyderabad, a user ordered three iPhone 17s worth ₹4.3 lakh in one go.
• Gym bro from Noida: This user ordered 1,343 protein items worth ₹2.8 lakh.

The title for the top spender of the year, however, goes to a user who spent over ₹22 lakh across the year, buying everything from 22 iPhone 17s and 24K gold coins to humble Tic Tacs and eggs.

Love, gifting, and beating Monday blues

Speaking of romance, Valentine’s Day saw a "Gulabi Din" frenzy. Orders for roses peaked at 666 per minute nationally. But Bengaluru took the crown, going all out with 1,780 orders per minute for roses and chocolates combined.

Interestingly, Mondays emerged as the ultimate gifting day across India—likely a collective attempt to beat the Monday blues.

• Top gifting days: Raksha Bandhan, Friendship Day, and Valentine’s Day.
• Mom vs. Dad: On Mother’s Day, bodycare gift sets peaked at 12:05 PM (perfect for mid-day pampering), while on Father’s Day, grooming gifts didn't peak until 7:36 PM. Make of that what you will.

Tiny carts and weird combos

Not every order was a blockbuster. The award for the tiniest cart of the year goes to a Bengaluru user who ordered a single printout for just ₹10.

Bengaluru also proved its peak "startup energy" status with the most confusing cart combination of 2025: A ₹1.7 lakh iPhone paired with a ₹178 lime soda. Premium tech meets budget thirst-quenching.

India's need for speed

In 2025, patience was officially outdated.

• Maggi in minutes: In Lucknow, a pack of Maggi Magic Masala was delivered in under 2 minutes—faster than the time it takes to actually cook it.
• iPhone frenzy: While the world queued outside stores, two users in Pune and Ahmedabad got their iPhone 17s delivered in under 3 minutes, beating unboxing videos to the punch.

Desi cravings: Milk, butter, and curry leaves

Despite the gadget craze, India remained loyal to its roots.

• The white revolution: India ordered 4 packets of milk per second, enough to fill 26,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
• Butter over cheese: For every 10 cheese orders, 9 went to butter, proving the dominance of the desi toast.
• The curry leaf king: A flavour fanatic in Kochi placed 368 orders for curry leaves—that's more than one order a day!

Small towns, big growth

The quick-commerce story is no longer just a metro phenomenon. Tier-II cities are powering the growth:

• Rajkot recorded a staggering 10x YoY growth.
• Ludhiana grew 7x, and Bhubaneswar rose 4x.
• Health and wellness orders are skyrocketing in smaller cities. Bhopal saw a 16x increase, followed closely by Varanasi, Ludhiana, and Warangal.

Desi cravings vs. global flavours

India’s palate is evolving, but some habits die hard.

• Korean wave: Korean flavours are literally on fire. Gochujang sauce orders in Bangalore jumped by +491%, with noodles dominating nearly 9 out of 10 Korean product orders.
• Chai supremacy: Despite the cafe culture, chai remains the national drink. For every cup of coffee, Indians gulped 1.3 cups of chai in the top 10 cities.

Generosity and "Search" madness

Bengaluru wasn't just buying gadgets; they were tipping, too. One local tipped a total of ₹68,600 throughout the year.

And finally, the search bar saw some truly ambitious queries. Users searched for Swiggy (7,000), drones (1,453), petrol (1,069), and even Airbus (938). Unfortunately, Instamart hasn't figured out how to deliver an aircraft in 10 minutes... yet.

As 2025 wraps up, one thing is clear: whether it’s a silver brick for Diwali or a single lemon for a gin and tonic, if India wants it, they want it now.