Athira Sethu
Kochi, 6 March 2025
Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha has dismissed Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal’s comment on cash burn within the quick commerce space as “verifiably untrue.”
Speaking in an interview recently, Goyal had stated that quick commerce firms were burning Rs5,000 crore a quarter. He further stated that Zomato-owned Blinkit contributes just 2-3% of that, while Zepto contributes over half.
Palicha vehemently opposed this assertion in a LinkedIn post. He said that Goyal’s statement implies Zepto is losing more than Rs2,500 crore every quarter, which he claims is entirely untrue. He promised that the reality will be evident when Zepto files its financial statements publicly.
In spite of the disagreement, Palicha complimented Goyal’s success. He said that Goyal began Zomato at the age of five and has turned into a role model for Indian startups. Palicha also revealed that he has read all of Goyal’s blogs and feels privileged to compete with Zomato. He highlighted that Zepto aims to be a part of India’s startup ecosystem and create a world-class product for Indian consumers.
Goyal had earlier said that Zepto lost approximately Rs2,200-2,300 crore in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, Zepto, which will go public soon, has raised $1.355 billion in three $300 million funding tranches in the last year.
A report indicates that Blinkit dominates the market for quick commerce with a 46% market share, followed by Zepto at 29%. The report further indicates that Zepto’s newer stores are achieving profitability much quicker. One store opened in 2022 took 23 months to become profitable, whereas a 2024 store achieved profitability in eight months.
Zomato reported a 57% fall in net profit for Q3 FY24 recently, making Rs59 crore compared to Rs138 crore during the same quarter last year. But Blinkit is expanding fast with more than 1,000 stores and looking to reach 2,000 by December 2025. Its quick commerce business registered a 120% rise in gross order value (GOV) year-on-year.
Goyal described Blinkit’s losses as the result of accelerated-than-expected investments in expansion. He said he expects the company to hit its store goal much sooner than originally anticipated.
