India, June 23 -- India's kirana stores are suddenly in demand.

Over the past few months, Meesho acquired Kirana Club; Udaan acquired ShopKirana; and Jumbotail doubled down on kirana-focused infrastructure. Flipkart and Walmart are expanding their kirana focus, too.

On the surface, these developments look unrelated. Different companies. Different business models. Different objectives. But a closer look reveals a common thread. Everyone seems to be moving deeper into the kirana ecosystem.

For years, B2B companies focused on procurement, ecommerce platforms focused on consumers, and kiranas remained a largely independent retail channel. Today, these boundaries have begun to blur, and kirana is no longer just a store selling products to n...