Athira Sethu
Kochi, 21 August 2026
Avenue Supermarts Ltd, the firm that owns the DMart retail chain, has authorized further investment in its e-grocery platform, Avenue E-Commerce (AEL), to a tune of ₹500 crore. The retailer runs its online grocery store business using the brand name DMart Ready.
The announcement has been made amid continuous investments by Avenue Supermarts in its online business despite the unit operating at a loss.
The investment authorization was done during the company’s Annual General Meeting on Wednesday. With this new investment, the total investment in Avenue E-Commerce might reach almost ₹2,000 crore. Out of this, ₹350 crore is the recent investment made in FY26.
The FY26 period has seen impressive growth in the revenue of Avenue E-Commerce. The revenue of Avenue E-Commerce grew 17 percent to ₹4,094 crore compared to ₹3,502 crore in the previous financial year.
But the losses have also been rising. The loss has gone up to ₹307 crore in FY26 from ₹247 crore in FY25.
DMart Ready also kept enhancing its home delivery services during the course of the year. The company increased its service coverage to 18 cities and also opened eight new fulfillment centers. Technology upgrades were made for the customer-facing platform as well as for the delivery services.
Despite its expansion, the company has now chosen to focus on 11 cities where the online business of DMart Ready is generated.
Anshul Asawa, MD & CEO of Avenue Supermarts, revealed that the company took a decision to focus on these 11 cities because their intention is to make DMart Ready into a viable online grocery business.
While the fresh capital of ₹500 crores proves that Avenue Supermarts is hopeful regarding the potential of online grocery shopping in the long run, the rising losses indicate that the company needs to improve its efficiency and profitability.
