Zomato hikes platform fee from ₹10 to ₹12 ahead of festive season rush

Food delivery and quick commerce company Eternal Limited, which owns Zomato and Blinkit brands, has increased its platform fee on food delivery orders from ₹10 to ₹12, a 20 per cent rise. The hike, effective Tuesday (September 2), comes less than a year after the previous revision.

Zomato, led by CEO Deepinder Goyal, first introduced the fee at ₹2 in August 2023 as part of a strategy to improve margins and move toward profitability. Since then, the charge has been raised multiple times:

• ₹3 in 2023

• ₹4 on January 1, 2024

• Temporarily ₹9 on December 31, 2023

• ₹7 in October 2024

• ₹10 later in October 2024 as a “festive season platform fee”

Eternal’s Q1 FY26 profit plunges

Eternal Ltd reported a sharp drop in consolidated net profit for the first quarter of FY26, earning just ₹25 crore — a 90 per cent fall from ₹253 crore in Q1 FY25. Profit also declined 36 per cent sequentially from ₹39 crore in Q4 FY25.

The company’s revenue from operations grew strongly to ₹7,167 crore, up 70 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) from ₹4,206 crore and 23 per cent sequentially from ₹5,833 crore in Q4 FY25.

The widening gap between profit and revenue is due to rising costs. Total expenses soared 77 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹7,433 crore and increased 22 per cent sequentially from ₹6,104 crore in the previous quarter.

Swiggy also hikes fees during festive season

Last month, Swiggy temporarily raised its platform fee from ₹12 to ₹14 in select regions to handle higher demand during the festive season. The ₹2 increase is a pilot measure and may either be rolled back after the festivities or applied only on high-demand days.

This is not Swiggy’s first experiment with platform fee hikes. Starting at ₹2 in April 2023, the fee has risen 600 per cent in just over two years.