Zomato, the food delivery platform, responded to the surge in New Year's Eve orders by raising its mandatory platform fee from Rs 3 to Rs 4 per order across key markets, effective from January 1.
During New Year's Eve, Zomato temporarily increased its platform fee to as high as Rs 9 per order in specific markets, reflecting the unprecedented demand on the platform.
Following this move, Zomato's shares opened strong on Tuesday, reaching around Rs 126 in the morning, buoyed by bullish support from international brokerage firm CLSA.
Earlier in August, Zomato had introduced a Rs 2 platform fee as part of its strategy to bolster margins and achieve profitability. Subsequently, it was increased to Rs 3 before the recent hike to Rs 4, applicable to all customers, including Zomato Gold subscribers.
Zomato, alongside its quick commerce platform Blinkit, witnessed record-breaking order volumes and bookings on New Year's Eve, surpassing previous years' benchmarks significantly.
Expressing enthusiasm about the surge in orders, Zomato's Founder and CEO, Deepinder Goyal, shared, "We have delivered almost as many orders on NYE 23 as we did on NYE 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 combined. Excited about the future!" on X platform.
Blinkit's CEO, Albinder Dhindsa, noted that they surpassed the total number of orders from NYE 2022 in just the evening hours.
Dhindsa further highlighted the exceptional achievements of the day, mentioning the highest-ever orders in a single day, record-breaking orders per minute (OPM), and remarkable sales figures for soft drinks, tonic water, and chips. He also expressed gratitude for the generous tips given to riders that day.
However, amidst these highs, Zomato faced challenges as tax authorities in Delhi and Karnataka issued notices regarding alleged short payment of goods and services tax (GST), totaling Rs 4.2 crore. Zomato plans to contest these notices.
This development followed an earlier Rs 400 crore show-cause notice from GST authorities concerning unpaid dues linked to "delivery charges" collected by Zomato.
(With Agency Inputs)
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