Ordering food from Zomato becomes more expensive:To pay ₹5 to ₹20 more on Cash on Delivery; discount on online payments

Ordering food through the food delivery platform Zomato has now become more expensive. If you choose the ‘cash on delivery’ option, meaning cash payment at the time of delivery, while ordering food from Zomato, you will have to pay ₹5 more. The new fee will be added separately to the app’s bill summary under the name ‘pay on delivery fee’. For some users, this fee is appearing at different amounts ranging from ₹7 to ₹20 on their app bills. However, users who pay online through digital methods such as UPI, credit/debit cards or net banking will not be charged this extra fee. A new fee will be charged in addition to the platform fee and packing charge This new ‘pay on delivery fee’ imposed by Zomato is separate from the company’s platform fee, restaurant packaging charge, delivery charge and GST. This means that, along with the cost of the food, you will now have to pay separately for packaging, delivery, the platform and making the payment in cash. However, Swiggy has not introduced any such charge so far. A small fee could earn the company crores About 23 to 25 lakh orders are placed on Zomato every day. Even if a small extra charge of just ₹5 is imposed, the company could earn up to ₹1.25 crore more each day. Even if not all customers choose cash on delivery, the decision will still increase Zomato’s annual profits by hundreds of crores. Platform fee that started at ₹2 has risen to ₹14.99 The practice of adding different charges to orders by food delivery platforms is not new. In April 2023, Zomato and Swiggy started with a platform fee of just ₹2, which has now risen to ₹14.99 per order, plus 18% GST. The charge may appear small, rising from ₹2 to ₹15, but e-commerce and food delivery companies earn a substantial ₹3,500 crore to ₹4,000 crore annually from these small charges alone. Competition intensifies in the food delivery market Zomato’s decision comes at a time when competition in the country’s quick-commerce and food delivery sectors has intensified considerably. Rapido’s ‘Only’ platform and Flipkart’s new ‘Eat In’ service are entering this market. Additionally, new startups such as Swish have recently secured fresh funding, further increasing the pressure on established companies such as Zomato and Swiggy to improve their profitability.