Festivals, cricket and travel boosted food orders across India, with Swiggy reporting spikes during Holi, Navratri, Eid and IPL 2026
Indian Premier League 2026, the world’s richest club cricket league, has driven a growth of 31 pc in dineout orders across India, reports Swiggy, a leading food delivery firm.
In a press statement, Swiggy says that India’s food consumption in March was driven by festivals, cricket and travel, with Swiggy recording a 25 pc surge in Navratri orders, over 200 biryani orders per minute on Eid al-Fitr, and more than 5,764 Holi-special meals delivered on board 1,381 long-distance trains.
Swiggy says that during Navratri, it registered a peak demand on March 22 at 20:06 when 4,800 orders were placed. Among fasting dishes, Sabudana Khichdi was the most ordered, with nearly 222 orders every hour, followed by Sabudana Vada at 156 orders per hour and Vrat Thali at around 120 orders per hour.
It adds that metro cities such as Bengaluru, Delhi and Gurgaon led demand, while emerging cities including Bareilly, Bhopal and Dehradun also saw strong traction. A Delhi-based customer placed a single order worth INR 11,980, including 10 vrat thalis (fasting platters), 10 vegetarian thalis and 20 glasses of masala chaas, a curd-based beverage.
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According to the statement, on Eid al-Fitr, biryani emerged as the clear favourite, with over 200 orders placed every minute across India. Desserts such as gulab jamun recorded 11 orders per minute, alongside strong demand for choco lava cake.
A customer in Noida placed the highest-value order worth INR 38,165, while a Mumbai-based customer ordered three large packs of mutton biryani worth INR 15,866, sufficient to serve 15 people. City-wise trends showed high volumes in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi, with emerging activity in Thiruvananthapuram, Surat, Mangaluru, Shillong, Agartala and Dibrugarh.
The statement says that dining out saw a sharp rise during the IPL 2026 opening weekend, with Swiggy Dineout bookings increasing by 31 pc compared to the first day of the previous season on March 22, 2025. On March 28, bookings at restaurants offering live match screenings rose by over 30 pc compared to the previous Saturday, while bookings for the 19:00 slot increased by 22.4 pc.
The statement adds that Bengaluru, which hosted the opening match, recorded over 21 pc growth in bookings compared to the previous Saturday, with diners collectively saving more than INR 9.6 million through Dineout.
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Mumbai followed with savings of over INR 6.3 million the next day. Group dining also increased significantly, with bookings for groups of five or more rising by 24.8 pc, including a single booking for 30 people in Bengaluru.
The highest single spend on opening night was INR 1,18,973 by a customer in Bengaluru. Casual dining led in volume, while pubs, bars and lounges saw the fastest growth, emerging as key match-viewing destinations.
Swiggy also noted a rise in the use of its ‘Food on Train’ service during the Holi travel period that is February 28 to March 8, with more than 5,764 festive orders delivered onboard 1,381 long-distance trains. Travellers largely opted for familiar favourites such as samosa, lassi and pyaaz kachori. Jaipur stood out as the busiest station, where one in every eight orders was a Holi special.
The statement further adds that among trains, the Kerala Express recorded 780 orders, highlighting demand across regions. In a notable instance, a single order of 122 items was delivered aboard the Indore-Amritsar Express, pointing to a rise in group and celebration-led consumption during travel.