Indian food delivery giant Swiggy reported wider losses for the December quarter, as continued investments in the competitive quick commerce segment, dampened growth in its biggest segment—food delivery.
In the three months that ended December 31 2024, Swiggy reported a loss of Rs 799 crore ($91.5 million) versus a loss of Rs 574 crore ($65.7 million) a year earlier and Rs 626 crore ($71.7 million) in the previous quarter.
The losses came despite a 31% rise in revenue from operations at Rs 3,993 crore ($457 million), as the company expenses jumped 32% to Rs 4,899 crore, led by advertising and sales promotion costs.
Swiggy’s earnings announcement comes weeks after its bigger rival Zomato also reported that heavy investments in its quick commerce division Blinkit took a toll on its profits.
Similar to Swiggy, Zomato also failed to put a lid on its expenses, which ballooned 1.6x to Rs 5,533 crore in Q3 FY25 from Rs 3,383 crore a year ago.
Both Swiggy and Zomato have been investing heavily in their quick commerce divisions—Instamart and Blinkit—to gain an edge over each other and their rival Zepto.
The two companies have been adding dark stores at a rapid rate and expect to continue doing so. From 487 active dark stores in the third quarter of 2024, Swiggy reported dark stores of 705 in the third quarter of 2025.
In a letter to shareholders, Swiggy’s co-founder CEO Sriharsha Majety acknowledged the rise in competition and said that the competitive intensity, as well as dark store rollouts in the sector, will remain elevated in the near term, impacting margins temporarily before they head back up.
“This business is witnessing a heightened degree of competitive action, and investments are being made by incumbents as well as new players given that the service has found favour with an ever-broadening base of consumers,” Majety said.
Similarly, Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO, of Zomato also pinned the losses in its quick commerce business on heightened investments.
“The losses in our quick commerce business this quarter are largely on account of pulling forward the growth investments in the business that we would have otherwise made in a staggered manner over the next few quarters,” Goyal had said in January.
Blinkit store count crossed the 1,000 mark one quarter ahead of the original plan and now the company aims to have 2,000 Blinkit stores by December 2025, a year ahead of the earlier guidance.
However, Swiggy’s investment journey seems far more gruelling than Zomato’s, as it still struggles to turn a profit. Now, under the relentless scrutiny of public markets, Swiggy faces greater pressure to demonstrate that it can hold its own against Zomato.
For the food delivery business, adjusted revenue rose 2.9% sequentially to Rs 1,860 crore, while Gross Order Value (GOV) reached Rs 7,436 crore, up from 6,238 crore in the same quarter last year.
“We have always believed that Food delivery in India will continually grow faster than the overall Food services market since convenience-driven consumption will grow given our demographic and socio-economic trends,” said Majety.
The recent Union Budget has put more money in the hands of a broad cross-section of people, which is expected to spur discretionary spending and have a significant positive impact on the food services ecosystem, he added.
Swiggy’s quick commerce arm, Instamart, also delivered a rise in revenue.
Adjusted revenue for Instamart more than tripled year-on-year to Rs 603 crore, while GOV surged to Rs 3,907 crore from Rs 2,077 crore a year ago.
However, the contribution margin of GOV and adjusted EBITDA margins in the segment continued to report losses.
With consumers already accustomed to receiving groceries and essentials at the click of a button within minutes, companies are now shifting their focus to delivering freshly prepared meals to doorsteps in under 15 minutes.
Industry giants like Swiggy, Zepto, and Zomato’s Blinkit, which have already established themselves as household names through their grocery delivery apps, are expanding into this new segment. At the same time, smaller challengers like Swish are stepping up to seize the opportunity.
Swiggy also launched its 10-minute food delivery service Bolt in October. Swiggy claims that the service has scaled meaningfully to 425 cities since then, contributing to 9% of its Food delivery volumes today (up from 5% in Nov-24).
