e-commerce
Grape expectations as new year luck goes viral on Instamart
MUMBAI: Some traditions travel quietly. Others arrive with a scroll, a meme and a shopping cart. As the clock ticked towards midnight on New Year’s Eve, India found itself gripped by an unlikely ritual: eating 12 grapes under the table to manifest luck, love and good fortune in the year ahead.
What began as a Spanish superstition turned viral social media challenge quickly spilled into real life, sending demand for grapes soaring on quick-commerce platforms. According to data from Instamart, searches for grapes surged 22x last New Year’s Eve, while orders jumped a staggering 40x in Delhi alone, with Mumbai and Bengaluru close behind. Once a humble fruit, grapes emerged as one of the most unexpected New Year essentials of the night.
Sensing a cultural moment ripening in real time, Instamart leaned into the trend with a playful on-ground activation in Mumbai. A giant grape, escorted by four “bodyguards” carrying Instamart bags, was spotted cruising through Bandra and Carter Road, instantly turning heads and cameras. The visual joke was clear: grapes had officially achieved VIP status.
The internet, unsurprisingly, ran with it. Within hours, the grape convoy was everywhere across meme and troll pages. Jokes ranged from grapes getting Z-plus security to last-ditch attempts at manifesting luck before 2025 arrived. One post quipped, “2026 mein duniya khatam ho jaaye, par luck toh le lo,” while another declared New Year prep officially incomplete without grapes.
Commenting on the phenomenon Swiggy head of Brand Mayur Hola said culture often reveals itself not through announcements, but behaviour. “Last New Year’s Eve, we saw grapes move from fruit bowls to shopping carts in cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. India gave the 12-grape ritual its own twist, and we decided to have a little fun with it. When a moment becomes a movement, Instamart wants to be right there delivering it.”
Crowds stopped to snap photos, social feeds filled up fast, and a viral superstition became a shared cultural wink. By blending real-time data, street-level humour and internet energy, Instamart once again underlined its growing role beyond convenience as a mirror to how India shops, celebrates and scrolls its way into the new year.
After all, if luck comes in dozens, it helps when they arrive in minutes.
MUMBAI: From flights to tracks, Cleartrip is now trying to keep every journey on the same ticket. Cleartrip, part of Flipkart, has launched train ticket bookings through a partnership with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, marking its entry into India’s vast rail travel ecosystem.
The integration allows users to search, book and manage train journeys directly within the app, as the company pushes towards becoming a unified, multi-modal travel platform. The move plugs Cleartrip into one of the world’s largest transportation networks, where over 800 million reserved passengers travel annually, alongside a daily footfall of around 23 million across Indian Railways.
The offering includes bookings across routes nationwide, covering General and Tatkal quotas as per Ministry of Railways guidelines. Users can also access real-time seat availability, fare insights, PNR status tracking, berth preferences and digital payment options within a single interface.
The expansion reflects a broader shift in travel platforms from specialising in a single mode to stitching together end-to-end journeys. For Cleartrip, the bet is not just on scale, but on simplifying a system often seen as complex and fragmented.
Company executives said the focus is on embedding predictive intelligence and personalisation into the booking journey, aiming to make everything from discovery to post-booking support faster and more intuitive.
The train booking feature is currently live on the app, with plans to extend it to the web platform soon, signalling a push towards a seamless cross-platform experience.
In a country where railways move billions each year, the next battleground for travel apps may well be decided not in the skies, but on the tracks.
