Every shipping rate you've ever seen in India is priced by zone. Six zones — A through F — determined by the source and destination of the shipment. Getting fluent in zone math is the difference between healthy CoGS and bleeding margin.
The zones
Zone A: Local. Same city origin and destination. Cheapest tier. Same-day delivery is table stakes.
Zone B: Regional. Same state, different cities. Small step up in cost. Delivery in 24-48 hours.
Zone C: Metro↔Metro. Across states but between two of the top 8 metros (Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad). Slightly higher than B.
Zone D: National. Every other lane. This is where most D2C shipping actually happens and it costs about 2x what Zone A costs.
Zone E: Remote. Ladakh, parts of the Northeast, hill districts. Doubled again.
Zone F: Island / Special. Andaman and Lakshadweep. The premium tier.
The numbers
The BFast Standard sheet prices Zone A Surface at ₹70 for the first kilogram; Zone F Air at ₹320 for the same. That's a 4.5x range for the same physical product.
If most of your revenue is D2C direct-to-consumer, most of your shipments will be Zone C or D, so plan for a blended average of ₹150-180 per parcel including GST and fuel.
Why it matters
When you price a product on your website, you're implicitly baking in a shipping cost. Getting the zone mix wrong by 20% is the difference between a 5% net margin and a 3% one.