Food and grocery delivery platform Swiggy saw its net loss almost double to Rs 1,081 crore during the January-March quarter, as it aggressively expanded its quick commerce network in the period, adding nearly four dark stores per day.
Growth in quick commerce also pushed the company’s consolidated operating revenue, which rose 45% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 4,410 crore.
Founder and group CEO Sriharsha Majety pointed out that investments made by Swiggy in the 10-minute grocery delivery business Instamart peaked during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, and he expects losses in the segment to begin unwinding.
“We believe that Instamart reached the peak of adjusted Ebitda losses in late Q4; and from hereon, we expect to progressively unwind losses, the pace of which will be determined by our expansion of AOV (average order value) and take-rates, and the nature and quantum of competitive intensity,” Majety said. Take rate is the ratio of gross sales to revenue.
This is in sharp contrast to the statement made by Swiggy’s biggest rival, Zomato parent Eternal, which said on May 1 that it will aggressively pursue market share gains for its quick commerce business Blinkit even at the cost of short-term profitability.
Meanwhile, Swiggy has revised its guidance for Instamart’s contribution breakeven. Initially, it had targeted the October-December 2025 quarter, but this has now been adjusted to a range – from the third quarter of fiscal 2026 to the first quarter of fiscal 2027.
Consequently, the company’s corporate-level adjusted Ebitda breakeven guidance has also been changed by the same measure.
In an interaction with ET, Swiggy’s chief financial officer Rahul Bothra, said that, having achieved its target of over 1,000 dark stores, future store openings will no longer be driven by expansion targets but by the growth observed in zones where new stores are needed.
“Hereon, we believe that store additions will be a derivative of growth…store expansion itself needn’t follow a certain network expansion guidance. This doesn’t mean that we will aim to grow slower…we have made a choice of network where we have these megapods, which are two-and-a-half times larger than dark stores and these can do 5,000-6,000 orders per day compared to 2,000-3,000 orders a day (done by smaller dark stores,” he said.
Instamart’s gross order value (GOV) for the March quarter came in at Rs 4,670 crore – compared to Blinkit’s Rs 9,421 crore – double from the year-ago period. For the company, however, this growth did not result in improved bottomlines, as quick commerce’s adjusted Ebitda loss increased to Rs 840 crore against Rs 304 crore in the year-ago period.
Swiggy said that this was on account of spending on customer acquisition and brand marketing, which led to a 60% growth in monthly transacting users (MTUs).
Also Read: Swiggy Q4 earnings: key takeaways
Several brokerages have pegged Blinkit to have the highest market share in the sector, followed by Zepto in the second spot. The quick commerce market is also seeing expansion coming from the likes of Flipkart and Amazon.
The frontloading of dark store expansion and the associated costs on marketing also contributed to Swiggy’s Rs 1,488 crore cash burn during the March quarter. As of March 31, its cash balance stood at Rs 6,695 crore against Rs 8,183 crore in the year-ago period.
Food delivery
A broader slowdown and a seasonally weak quarter caused Swiggy’s food delivery business to grow 17.6% YoY in terms of GOV – which is at the lower end of its 18-22% growth guidance. The food delivery growth for Swiggy during the period was, however, faster than rival Zomato, which posted a 16% on-year growth in GOV in the segment.
“Food delivery is a relatively mature category, and we believe that sustained growth from hereon will be led by innovation towards bringing new consumers into the ecosystem and new meals into food delivery carts,” Majety said in a letter to the shareholders.
Swiggy has been doubling down on its quick food delivery offering, Bolt, where it aggregates restaurants for 10-15-minute order fulfilments. It said that during the quarter, Bolt contributed 12% to the company’s overall food delivery volumes.
Last week, it said that Bolt has been expanded to 500 cities.
“Cross-pollination of users from quick commerce is also becoming a significant source of food delivery user growth, since around 30% of users acquired on Instamart in the past six months are new to the Swiggy ecosystem,” Majety said.
“Creation of segmented propositions on speed (Bolt) and affordability (Crazy deals, PocketHero) has helped improve the salience of the platform,” he added.
Growth in quick commerce also pushed the company’s consolidated operating revenue, which rose 45% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 4,410 crore.
Founder and group CEO Sriharsha Majety pointed out that investments made by Swiggy in the 10-minute grocery delivery business Instamart peaked during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, and he expects losses in the segment to begin unwinding.
“We believe that Instamart reached the peak of adjusted Ebitda losses in late Q4; and from hereon, we expect to progressively unwind losses, the pace of which will be determined by our expansion of AOV (average order value) and take-rates, and the nature and quantum of competitive intensity,” Majety said. Take rate is the ratio of gross sales to revenue.
This is in sharp contrast to the statement made by Swiggy’s biggest rival, Zomato parent Eternal, which said on May 1 that it will aggressively pursue market share gains for its quick commerce business Blinkit even at the cost of short-term profitability.
Meanwhile, Swiggy has revised its guidance for Instamart’s contribution breakeven. Initially, it had targeted the October-December 2025 quarter, but this has now been adjusted to a range – from the third quarter of fiscal 2026 to the first quarter of fiscal 2027.
Consequently, the company’s corporate-level adjusted Ebitda breakeven guidance has also been changed by the same measure.
In an interaction with ET, Swiggy’s chief financial officer Rahul Bothra, said that, having achieved its target of over 1,000 dark stores, future store openings will no longer be driven by expansion targets but by the growth observed in zones where new stores are needed.
“Hereon, we believe that store additions will be a derivative of growth…store expansion itself needn’t follow a certain network expansion guidance. This doesn’t mean that we will aim to grow slower…we have made a choice of network where we have these megapods, which are two-and-a-half times larger than dark stores and these can do 5,000-6,000 orders per day compared to 2,000-3,000 orders a day (done by smaller dark stores,” he said.
Instamart’s gross order value (GOV) for the March quarter came in at Rs 4,670 crore – compared to Blinkit’s Rs 9,421 crore – double from the year-ago period. For the company, however, this growth did not result in improved bottomlines, as quick commerce’s adjusted Ebitda loss increased to Rs 840 crore against Rs 304 crore in the year-ago period.
Swiggy said that this was on account of spending on customer acquisition and brand marketing, which led to a 60% growth in monthly transacting users (MTUs).
Also Read: Swiggy Q4 earnings: key takeaways
Several brokerages have pegged Blinkit to have the highest market share in the sector, followed by Zepto in the second spot. The quick commerce market is also seeing expansion coming from the likes of Flipkart and Amazon.
The frontloading of dark store expansion and the associated costs on marketing also contributed to Swiggy’s Rs 1,488 crore cash burn during the March quarter. As of March 31, its cash balance stood at Rs 6,695 crore against Rs 8,183 crore in the year-ago period.
Food delivery
A broader slowdown and a seasonally weak quarter caused Swiggy’s food delivery business to grow 17.6% YoY in terms of GOV – which is at the lower end of its 18-22% growth guidance. The food delivery growth for Swiggy during the period was, however, faster than rival Zomato, which posted a 16% on-year growth in GOV in the segment.
“Food delivery is a relatively mature category, and we believe that sustained growth from hereon will be led by innovation towards bringing new consumers into the ecosystem and new meals into food delivery carts,” Majety said in a letter to the shareholders.
Swiggy has been doubling down on its quick food delivery offering, Bolt, where it aggregates restaurants for 10-15-minute order fulfilments. It said that during the quarter, Bolt contributed 12% to the company’s overall food delivery volumes.
Last week, it said that Bolt has been expanded to 500 cities.
“Cross-pollination of users from quick commerce is also becoming a significant source of food delivery user growth, since around 30% of users acquired on Instamart in the past six months are new to the Swiggy ecosystem,” Majety said.
“Creation of segmented propositions on speed (Bolt) and affordability (Crazy deals, PocketHero) has helped improve the salience of the platform,” he added.
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