NEW DELHI : Consumer appetite for food ordering is set to rise with India’s online food ordering market expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 25-30% to touch $7.5- $8 billion by 2022, up from $4 billion, according to a report by Google and Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

Increased reach of internet in India’s smallest cities will help consumers discover new platforms, even as online food companies expand their reach to more cities and rope in more restaurants, prompting users of apps to spend more time and money on them.

“Overall online spending in India is rising rapidly and expected to grow at 25% over the next five years to reach over $130 billion," said Rachit Mathur, managing director and partner, India lead, consumer and retail practice, BCG. The reach of food tech firms has grown six times over the last couple of years on the back of rapid digitization and steadily growing consumption and will continue to increase, he said.

Between 2017 to 2019, the reach of food tech aggregators grew six times.

The time spent exploring and ordering food online has also nearly doubled from 32 minutes in 2017 to 72 minutes per month in 2019.

The report also expects ordering frequency to grow by 18-20%, though average order values may soften by 5-10% as consumers try small portions but order more. “Higher order frequency though offset by lower average order value," the report said.