New Delhi, Jan 25 (IANS) Online food delivery platform Zomato on Thursday announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Zomato Payments Private Limited (ZPPL) has been granted a certificate of authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as an 'Online Payment Aggregator'.

The authorisation came into effect from January 24.

"We wish to inform that ZPPL has been granted a certificate of authorisation dated January 24, 2024, from the RBI to operate as an ‘Online Payment Aggregator’ in India with effect from January 24, 2024, as per the guidelines issued by the RBI," Zomato said in an exchange filing.

With this, Zomato Payments has expanded its role beyond food delivery and restaurant discovery into the realm of digital payments.

Apart from this recent development, Zomato had partnered with ICICI Bank last year to introduce its own unified payments interface (UPI), Zomato UPI.

Earlier this month, Zomato introduced a new feature called "daily payouts" to support emerging restaurant partners.

Currently, the feature will be available for restaurant partners who receive 100 or fewer orders a month, according to the company.

"Our discussions with various restaurant partners highlighted the financial challenges smaller eateries face, using the traditional weekly payout system. This feature is designed to address this critical need for more frequent access to earnings," Zomato said in a blogpost.

Mumbai, Jan 25 (IANS) The second episode of the business reality show ‘Shark Tank India’ season three saw the debut of Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO of Zomato, and fans quickly drew comparisons between him and Ashneer Grover, the former managing director of BharatPe.

Deepinder infused a new vibe as he grilled entrepreneurs during a gym pitch.

In the episode, he showcased his keen eye for detail by spotting a phone number glitch and grammatical errors in a company ad, underscoring the importance of delivering a flawless pitch on national TV.

The netizens quickly drew comparisons between Deepinder and the dynamic Ashneer, a fan favourite. Social media lit up with praise and a warm welcome for the newest addition to the shark tank.

A user wrote: "Deepinder Goyal is stealing the show and how." Another one said: "Yeh Shark toh danger hai."

One fan mentioned, "Deepinder would be a great shark".

A user also wrote, "Love Deepinder bro. He is better than Ashneer."

While one of them even compared him to the co-founder and CEO of Lenskart, Peyush Bansal, "Deepinder Goyal is the new Peyush Bansal. Both don't like to invest less."

A user also mentioned, "Deepinder is Ashneer lite version."

One wrote, "Deepinder full Ashneer mode me hai." A user shared, "@deepigoyal just watched you on shark tank , finally shark tank india got a shark , incredible attitude you carry man."

‘Shark Tank India Season 3’ streams on SonyLIV.

New Delhi, Jan 17 (IANS) Online food delivery platform Zomato on Wednesday said that it aims for 100 per cent deliveries through electric vehicles (EVs), leading to net zero emissions across the food ordering and delivery value chain by 2033.

Announcing sustainability goals for 2030, the company said it will facilitate 100 per cent plastic-neutral food delivery orders through voluntary recycling and delivery of 100 million plastic-free food orders by 2025.

"From a sustainability perspective, the government's push towards EV adoption has received a commitment by platforms, including Zomato, that is looking at facilitating 100 per cent deliveries through EVs leading to net zero emissions across the food ordering and delivery value chain by 2033," Ramesh Krishnamurthi, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, said in a statement.

The company also mentioned enhancing the earning and saving capacity of one million gig workers through upskilling, partnerships and benefit programmes.

"Over the years, gig work has democratised access to livelihoods by reducing entry barriers and providing improved income prospects for lakhs of people in India," Rakesh Ranjan, CEO - Food Delivery, Zomato, said in a statement.

Under its sustainability goals, Zomato also aims to build food ordering and delivery solutions for the next billion customers seeking affordability, accessibility, assortment and quality. Moreover, the company mentioned that it will support the growth of 300,000 micro, small and medium restaurant businesses and food entrepreneurs and also bring health and safety knowledge and innovations to restaurant partners.

Hyderabad, Jan 3 (IANS) A delivery boy of Zomato took a horse ride to deliver an order in Hyderabad on Tuesday after petrol stations ran out of fuel due to strike by truckers over new law on hit-and-run accidents.

The delivery boy wearing Zomato bag was seen riding the horse on a road near Imperial hotel in Chanchalguda area in the old city.

The video of the young man riding the horse to deliver the order was widely shared on social media.

He came with the innovative idea after his motorbike ran out of petrol. Petrol banks were either shut after running out of stocks or there were long queues of customers.

The video reminded people of a visual of a Swiggy man riding a horse to deliver food in Mumbai in 2002 amid heavy rains.

New Delhi, Jan 2 (IANS) Buoyed by record food orders on New Year’s Eve, food delivery platform Zomato increased its mandatory platform fee to Rs 4 from Rs 3 per order across key markets.

The new rates were effective from January 1.

New Year’s Eve saw Zomato temporarily increasing its platform fee as high as Rs 9 per order in certain markets.

The company’s shares opened high (were hovering around Rs 126 in morning) on Tuesday after international brokerage firm CLSA remained bullish on its stock.

In August last year, Zomato introduced a Rs 2 platform fee to improve its margins and become profitable.

The company later increased the platform fee to Rs 3 before raising it again on January 1 to Rs 4. The new platform fee is levied on all customers, including Zomato Gold.

Zomato and its quick commerce platform Blinkit saw highest-ever orders and bookings on the New Year's Eve, compared to previous years.

“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!” Zomato Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal posted on X.

Albinder Dhindsa, CEO, Blinkit said they crossed the total number of orders they did on NYE 2022 in the evening only.

“We've already hit highest-ever orders in a day, OPM (orders per minute), soft drinks and tonic water sold in a day, chips sold in a day, tips given to riders in a day (thank you India),” Dhindsa informed.

Meanwhile, Zomato received notices from the tax authorities in Delhi and Karnataka over alleged short payment of goods and services tax (GST) amounting to Rs 4.2 crore.

Zomato said it will appeal against the tax demand notices.

This came after Zomato received Rs 400 crore show-cause notice from the goods and services tax authorities over unpaid dues collected as "delivery charges".

New Delhi, Jan 1 (IANS) Food delivery platforms like Zomato and Swiggy and quick commerce platforms like Blinkit and Zepto, along with hospitality major Oyo, saw highest-ever orders and bookings on the New Year's Eve, compared to previous years.

The quick grocery and food delivery platforms received huge orders as revellers preferred to stay home to celebrate the New Year.

“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!” Zomato Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal posted on X.

Albinder Dhindsa, CEO, Blinkit said they crossed the total number of orders they did on NYE 2022 in the evening only.

“We've already hit highest-ever orders in a day, OPM (orders per minute), soft drinks and tonic water sold in a day, chips sold in a day, tips given to riders in a day (thank you India),” Dhindsa informed.

“And it's not slowing down! All systems and stores holding up well till now,” he added.

Goyal posted that 3.2 lakh+ delivery partners across @zomato and @letsblinkit served India on the New Year's Eve.

A user from Lucknow placed an order worth Rs 33,683 on Blinkit, while a Kolkata person placed an order worth Rs 48,950 on Swiggy Instamart.

“India is partying like never before to ring in 2024,” Rohit Kapoor, CEO, Swiggy, posted on X.

“NYE 2024 broke all records across Swiggy Food and Instamart ! With the team at the stroke of midnight -- could not be happier,” Kapoor posted with a photo of his team at work.

A Swiggy spokesperson said that in preparation for the day, “we've been working with restaurant partners to extend serviceability, stocking up at Swiggy instamart pods, and ensuring our delivery fleet is at full strength”.

“We’ve also seen a remarkable surge in the number of year-end party bookings on Dineout. Dineout is also being used for reservations this year,” said the spokesperson.

Zepto, India’s first unicorn of last year, said it saw a definitive surge in orders.

“We had the privilege of serving 2.1 million more customers on our platform compared to the same time last year. 1.88 million monthly transacting users (MTUs) in Dec 2022 versus 4.04 million MTUs in December 2023," said Aadit Palicha, co-founder and CEO of Zepto.

Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and CEO of Oyo, said that both domestic and international bookings surged on New Year’s Eve.

“Last minute plans are driving global tourism. Between December 30 and 31 this year, we received 230k+ last minute bookings globally,” he posted on X.

Agarwal said that Oyo received more than 620,000 bookings for New Year Eve in 2023.

“We are up by 37 per cent from last year as last minute bookings rise. Ayodhya saw a 70 per cent jump in Oyo app users vs Goa (50 per cent) and Nainital (60 per cent),” he informed.

New Delhi, Dec 28 (IANS) Zomato shares were trading more than 4 per cent down on Thursday morning after it received Rs 400 crore show-cause notice from the goods and services tax (GST) authorities over unpaid dues collected as "delivery charges".

The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) last month issued a demand notice to Zomato and its rival Swiggy, asking them to pay pending dues of over Rs 400 crore and Rs 350 crore, respectively.

The show-cause notice to Zomato is for the period between October 29, 2019, and March 31, 2022, according to media reports.

The food delivery platform said that it "strongly believes that it is not liable to pay any tax since the delivery charge is collected by the company on behalf of the delivery partners".

In a regulatory filing, Zomato said that in view of the contractual terms and conditions mutually agreed upon, "the delivery partners have provided the delivery services to the customers and not the company".

"The company will be filing an appropriate response to the show cause notice (SCN)," Zomato added.

"At this stage, no order of any kind has been passed and as mentioned above, the company believes that it has a strong case on merit," said the company.

Last month, Zomato and Swiggy received GST notices on delivery charges.

As per Zomato and Swiggy, 'delivery charge' is nothing but the cost borne by the delivery partners who go to deliver food from door to door.

Swiggy recently increased the platform fee from Rs 2 to Rs 3 for food orders.

A Swiggy spokesperson had told IANS that "there has been no significant change on platform fee, which is applied by most service players and is a common practice across industries".

Zomato earlier increased its platform fee to Rs 3 per order from an initial Rs 2.

Online food platform Zomato has denied media reports claiming it made an offer to acquire homegrown logistics solution provider Shiprocket for close to $2 billion (more than Rs 16,600 crore).

Earlier today, media reports emerged, stating that Zomato had put forth an acquisition proposal to Shiprocket, but no final decision had been made.

However, in a statement issued on Thursday, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal refuted the claims, calling them "incorrect news" and urging investors to exercise caution against such speculation.

"We deny this statement and would like to caution investors against such incorrect news floating in the market," Goyal stated. "We remain focused on our existing businesses with no plans for any acquisition at this moment."

He further clarified that while the company doesn't typically comment on media speculation, it felt obligated to issue a statement in this case, considering the significant size of the purported deal and the potential market uncertainty it could create.

New Delhi, Oct 19 (IANS) Japanese investment giant SoftBank's venture capital fund SVF Growth is reportedly set to sell 1.1 per cent stake in food delivery platform Zomato for around Rs 1,024 crore.

The sale via a bulk deal is likely to see the offer price at Rs 109.4-Rs 111.65 per share, reports CNBC TV18, citing sources.

Zomato or SoftBank did not officially comment on the upcoming bulk deal.

Zomato's shares on BSE closed 1.6 per cent lower at Rs 111.40 per share on Thursday.

In August, SoftBank had sold a partial stake in Zomato through bulk deals at Rs 947 crore.

The Japanese investment giant, which had sold nearly 10 crore shares in Zomato, amounting to an 1.17 per cent of the company’s equity, is planning to fully exit the online food delivery platform.

SoftBank bought Zomato stake in June last year for around Rs 71 per share.

For the company, Zomato is just an investment on which the company has made significant profits.

Another foreign institutional investor, Tiger Global Management, offloaded its entire shareholding of 1.44 per cent in Zomato in August. The deal earned Tiger Global a total of Rs 1,123.85 crore.

New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) Zomato's stock is likely to be volatile in the near term on account of market speculation around possible exits by some pre-IPO shareholders (VC/PE/Chinese investors) of the company as well as erstwhile shareholders of Blinkit who had received it under a share swap deal, JM Financial Institutional Securities said in a report.

“While we cannot accurately predict when (if at all) these shareholders would want to exit, we note that several of them are already sitting on sizeable gains, albeit a large chunk of it is unrealised. A few cues from past actions of these investors suggest that at least some of them would be eager to book profits post the recent run-up in the stock”, the report said.

So, a sizeable proportion of Zomato’s shares could be available for trade in the near term. In fact, the total value of the Zomato stock that all these investors hold basis CMP is Rs 180 billion. Even if one were to assume that only 50 per cent of the VC/PE/Chinese investor stake would be available for trade, the total short-term outflows could be close to Zomato's total IPO size of Rs 93.75 billion, the report said.

“We strongly suggest that long-term investors use these liquidity events to build a sizable position in Zomato as it not only offers a strong play on India's online food services market but is also, post the Blinkit acquisition, shaping up into a formidable diversified play on online retail”, it said.

Shares owned by ex-Blinkit investors will be tradeable from August 28. Zomato had issued fresh equity shares to all the selling shareholders of Blinkit as consideration for the M&A last year, at an implied per share price of Rs 70.76. Pursuant to the transaction, Zomato had negotiated a 12-month lock-in for these shares, compared to the statutory lock-in requirement of 6 months. BSE fillings and company disclosures suggest these shares will become tradeable from  August 28, the report said.

A majority of these shares are owned by just three venture capital investors, namely, Softbank, Tiger Global and Sequioa. Note that only 50 per cent of the shares attributable to the Blinkit founder will be tradeable in the next few days; the remaining 50 per cent will continue to be locked in for another 12 months, the report added.

Several pre-IPO and ex-Blinkit investors are sitting on substantial unrealised gains, An analysis of the cost of acquisition of shares owned by pre-IPO and ex-Blinkit shareholders of Zomato suggests they are currently sitting on substantial gains on their investments, a large chunk of which is, however, unrealised.

Given the quantum of these gains and basis past actions of these VC/PE/Chinese shareholders in the listed internet names that recently went public we believe it is fair to say that a sizeable proportion of Zomato’s stock could be available for trade in large blocks in a not-so distant future, the report said.

New Delhi -  Zypp Electric on Tuesday said it will deploy 1 lakh e-scooters for online food delivery platform Zomato by 2024.

The company said that the association is part of a larger plan of Zomato to go completely electric by 2030.

"This association will enable us to significantly reduce carbon emissions and bring more sustainable last-mile delivery options to our customers. We look forward to working together to create more efficient and environment friendly deliveries," said Mohit Sardana, COO, food delivery at Zomato.

Zypp Electric, which has raised $37.5 million to date, so far deployed over 13,000 electric vehicles on the roads.

"Food delivery is all on 2-wheelers and is mostly running on petrol and, at the same time, wanting to shift to EVs to save costs. By leveraging our EV fleet management technology and innovative partner solutions, we aim to create a more efficient, sustainable, and customer-centric delivery experience," said Tushar Mehta, COO and Co-founder, Zypp Electric.

In February, the EV-as-a-service platform raised $25 million led by Gogoro, a global technology leader in the battery swapping ecosystem, in its series B funding.

With the new funds, Zypp aims to increase its fleet size from 10,000 to 200,000 electric vehicles and expand its footprint to 30 cities in India by 2025.

Zypp is currently serving Zomato, Swiggy, BigBasket, Amazon, Flipkart, Zepto, Blinkit, and many more with EV solutions as well as delivery partners.

New Delhi, March 27 (IANS) SUN Mobility on Monday said it has entered into a collaboration with Zomato to power 50,000 electric 2-wheelers across the country over the next 24 months.

The EV company, which will utilise its battery swap solutions for the last-mile deliveries, said the collaboration has been confirmed in Delhi with an initial fleet deployment.

"By deploying 50,000 electric two-wheelers in Zomato's fleet, we are reducing our carbon footprint by 5,000 MT/month and contributing to a cleaner environment," said Anant Badjatya, CEO, SUN Mobility.

The move is aligned with Zomato's commitment to "The Climate Group's EV100 initiative that implies 100 per cent EV adoption by 2030" and is also in line with SUN Mobility's mission to electrify last-mile deliveries in India.

"Our associations in the past and now with SUN Mobility to swap batteries will accelerate the transition to EV-based deliveries, further helping us keep our promise of a sustainable Zomato," said Mohit Sardana, COO, Food Delivery.

The swappable battery technology will enable the last-mile delivery partners to easily and quickly swap their depleted batteries for fully charged ones at SUN Mobility Swap Points.

This will reduce the downtime for recharging, increase the efficiency of the last-mile delivery operations and contribute to a cleaner environment by reducing emissions, said the companies.

Founded in 2017, SUN Mobility is a joint venture between SUN Group and Maini Group.

SUN Mobility has deployed 358 Swap Points in 18 cities to date, powering over 80 million kms and over 4.2 million swaps in the country so far.