Deepinder Goyal Talks About Food Delivery Slowdown, Quick Com Burn & Keeping "Discipline" Intact For Blinkit

According to a recent report, restaurant aggregator Zomato will introduce multiple initiatives to boost growth in its key food delivery business in the coming months.

Deepinder Goyal opens up about Food Delivery sector slowdown, Blinkit & more

In an exclusive interview with Economic Times, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal said India’s food delivery sector’s multiple systemic issues should be fixed to prevent further slowing down of the industry.

“Once we solve for those, the interests of Zomato, restaurants and the customers will get aligned towards growth. I'm hoping that we launch some of these initiatives in the next three months…,” he said.

Zomato’s food delivery vertical grew by 17% year-on-year in the December quarter, down from the 27% growth a year back.

At The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence 2024, Gurgaon-based Zomato received an award in the ‘Emerging Company of the Year’ category, for its stellar run on the stock markets.

About its quick commerce unit Blinkit, Goyal said, “It's about making sure that the discipline of execution stays intact in the team. Our burn rate is 2-3% of the sector, while our category share would be 40-45%.”

The Zomato boss further added that the total quarterly burn for the quick commerce industry is around Rs 5,000 crore.

“Substantially, more than half of this is by Zepto… Compared to this, we’re burning very low numbers. Last quarter, Blinkit burned around Rs 35 crore per month on an average,” he remarked.

“We don’t engage in deep discounting, and our execution has been good… and we have to make sure our growth rate stays intact,” the CEO added. “The discipline with which we invest our cash should also stay intact. That's the focus.”

The food-tech startup hit a significant milestone in Q1 of FY24, achieving profitability for the first time as a listed new-age firm. Surely, it was one of the points recognised by the ET Awards jury during the discussions.

“I hope we live up to the expectations everyone has of us in the future,” Deepinder Goyal said after winning the award.

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