Mumbai: Zomato has started charging customers an additional fee of ₹5 to ₹20 for choosing cash on delivery (COD), adding another charge to food orders placed through the platform.
The Eternal-backed food delivery company is displaying the charge separately as a “pay on delivery fee” in the bill summary for customers opting to pay in cash when their order arrives.
How Much Is Zomato Charging?
The COD charge is commonly ₹5 per order, although customers have reportedly encountered fees of ₹7 and as high as ₹20 in some cases.
Customers paying online are not being charged the additional fee.
The pay-on-delivery charge is separate from Zomato’s existing platform fee, restaurant packaging charges, taxes and other applicable costs.
The move comes as food delivery companies look for additional revenue streams amid growing competition and high daily order volumes.
Zomato is estimated to process around 2.3 million to 2.5 million food orders daily.
Competition Heats Up
Competition in India’s food delivery market is also expanding, with Rapido’s Ownly gaining traction and Flipkart piloting its Eat In food delivery service.
Zomato’s key rival Swiggy has not introduced a similar cash-on-delivery charge so far.
Food delivery platforms began introducing platform fees in 2023. Swiggy initially levied ₹2 per order before Zomato followed with its own charge.
Zomato subsequently increased its platform fee and raised it to ₹14.99 per order earlier this year from ₹12.50, with GST charged separately.
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Even relatively small increases in per-order charges can generate substantial additional revenue because of the large number of orders handled by food delivery platforms.
Zomato Restructures Operations
The new charge also comes after Zomato reportedly laid off around 250 employees in August as part of a workforce restructuring exercise.
The company decided to discontinue its Customer Delight operations in Hyderabad and consolidate the remaining in-house operations at a single location in Gurgaon following a review of its operating model and organisational requirements.
