India’s leading quick commerce players, Zomato and Swiggy, have both raised platform fees on food delivery orders, aiming to shore up margins ahead of the high-demand festive season.
Eternal Limited, the parent company of Zomato and Blinkit, increased its platform fee from Rs 10 to Rs 12 on September 2. This marks a 20 per cent rise and adds to a series of fee adjustments over the past year.
Zomato, under the leadership of CEO Deepinder Goyal, had first introduced the charge at Rs 2 in August 2023. Since then, it has seen multiple hikes, including Rs 3 later in 2023, Rs 4 on January 1, 2024, a short-lived Rs 9 fee on December 31, 2023, and revisions to Rs 7 and Rs 10 in October 2024, the latter branded as a “festive season platform fee.”
Eternal’s Profitability Challenges
The latest price adjustment comes against a backdrop of mixed financial results for Eternal Ltd. The company’s consolidated net profit plunged 90 per cent to Rs 25 crore in Q1 FY26, compared with Rs 253 crore a year earlier. Sequentially, profit also slipped by 36 per cent from Rs 39 crore in Q4 FY25, reported Business Standard.
Revenue growth, however, remained robust at Rs 7,167 crore in Q1 FY26, marking a 70 per cent increase year-on-year and 23 per cent higher than the preceding quarter. The widening gap between revenue and profit is being driven by surging costs, which rose 77 per cent annually to Rs 7,433 crore.
Swiggy Tests Higher Fees
Swiggy has taken a similar approach, trialling higher fees during the festive rush. Last month, it temporarily raised platform charges from Rs 12 to Rs 14 in selected regions. The two-rupee hike is described as a pilot measure, with the possibility of being rolled back post-festivities or applied selectively during peak demand.
Swiggy’s fee structure has followed a sharp upward trajectory since its introduction at Rs 2 in April 2023, representing a sixfold rise in just over two years.
Festive Season Pressures
The simultaneous fee hikes by both Zomato and Swiggy underscore the pressures faced by quick commerce platforms. With the festive season set to drive record orders, companies are balancing the need to absorb higher operating costs with the imperative of sustaining profitability.
Industry watchers note that while the incremental fee per order is modest, the cumulative impact across millions of deliveries could provide meaningful support to margins. However, the rising costs also highlight the competitive and capital-intensive nature of India’s food delivery and quick commerce sector.
As consumers gear up for the festive rush, both Zomato and Swiggy are likely to remain under scrutiny for how their pricing strategies play out in one of the busiest shopping and dining seasons of the year.
