Food delivery platform Zomato has quietly increased its platform fee to ₹12 per order, up from ₹10 earlier, as the company looks to squeeze more profitability from the surge in festive-season demand. Rival Swiggy has matched the move with its own ₹2 hike, now charging ₹14 per order.
The platform fee, first rolled out at just ₹2 in April 2023, has steadily climbed in line with Zomato’s rising scale. At current order volumes of 2.3–2.5 million a day, the ₹12 fee is expected to generate close to ₹3 crore in daily revenue. That translates to nearly ₹90 crore in a single month, or up to ₹45 crore more per quarter than what the company would have earned at the old ₹10 fee.
While the increase may feel negligible for individual customers, the cumulative impact is material for Zomato, especially as it battles margin pressures from its quick commerce arm Blinkit. The company recently reported a sharp 90% year-on-year fall in profit after tax to ₹25 crore in Q1 FY26, compared with ₹253 crore in the same period last year. Revenues, however, jumped 70% to ₹7,167 crore.
Alongside the fee hike, Zomato has been experimenting with other monetisation levers. It has piloted weather-linked surcharges and is currently testing a ₹50 “VIP Mode” in select cities, promising faster deliveries, priority riders and a concierge-style service. A “long-distance fee” payable by restaurants for orders over four kilometres has also been introduced, drawing pushback from smaller eateries.
Industry watchers say such incremental charges, once tested, tend to stick if volumes remain unaffected. For Zomato and Swiggy, the festival quarter will be a litmus test on how far India’s food delivery consumers are willing to pay for speed and convenience.
