Indian restaurant aggregator and food delivery giant Zomato’s consolidated profit more than halved year-on-year in the December quarter of the ongoing financial year, mostly due to heavy investments in its quick commerce division Blinkit.
Net profit in the third quarter (Q3) of FY 2025 fell 57% to Rs 59 crore ($6.8 million), from Rs 138 crore in the year-ago period, show the company’s filings to the stock exchange. Sequentially, the dip in net profit was sharper at 66%.
The company 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. In Q2 FY25, the company’s total expenses—including purchases of stock-in-trade, employee benefits, advertising costs, and delivery and related charges—had stood at Rs 4,783 crore.
Besides new fulfilment centres at Blinkit, the company also spent on app launches.
The higher expenses offset the company’s surging revenue from operations, which stood at Rs 5,405 crore in Q3 FY25—up 1.6x from Rs 3,288 crore a year ago. Sequentially, too, revenue rose 12.6% from Rs 4,799 crore in Q2.
Zomato’s revenue and profit
The consolidated adjusted EBITDA of the company reached Rs 285 crore in Q3 FY25, up more than 2.25x YoY. This was mainly driven by an improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin of the food delivery division.
However, on a QoQ basis, consolidated adjusted EBITDA declined by around 14% due to investments in expanding the quick commerce division and associated warehouses.
Breakdown of expenses
Purchase of stock-in-trade, which nearly doubled YoY to Rs 1,510 crore in Q3 FY25, formed the biggest component of the company’s expenses. This was followed by delivery and related charges that stood at Rs 1,450 crore, up 36% YoY.
Employee benefit expenses, meanwhile, ballooned 1.6x to Rs 689 crore in Q3 FY25, from Rs 423 crore in the year-ago quarter.
In the last two quarters, the company has added 368 net new stores—152 in Q2 FY25 and 216 in Q3 FY25—accounting for around 37% of the total store network of 1,007 stores. During the same period, it has also added 1.3 million sqft of warehousing space, accounting for more than 30% of the overall warehousing network.
Food delivery GOV growth slows down
Food delivery, quick commerce, hyperpure supplies, and going out are the prime sources of revenue for the company.
The food delivery business generated the highest revenue from operations, which surged to Rs 2,072 crore in Q3 FY25 from Rs 1,704 crore during the same period in the previous financial year. It contributed 38.3% to the total revenue.
Zomato’s revenue by segment
The gross order value (GOV) for food delivery increased only marginally to Rs 9,913 crore in the December quarter from Rs 9,690 crore in the September quarter due to a slowdown in demand that started during the second half of November.
The B2B business Hyperpure Supplies generated the second-highest revenue after food delivery. It accounted for around 31% of the total revenue. Its revenues nearly doubled to Rs 1,671 crore in Q3 FY25 from Rs 859 crore during the same period in the previous year.
Blinkit’s losses soar
Zomato’s quick commerce business Blinkit raked in Rs 1,399 crore in the quarter, which is more than double the revenue generated in Q3 FY24. It accounted for around 26% of the total revenue of the company in Q3 FY25.
Its GOV increased to Rs 7,798 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2024, compared with Rs 6,132 crore in the previous quarter and Rs 3,542 crore in Q3 FY24.
Blinkit reported an EBITDA loss of Rs 103 crore in Q3 FY25, up by 16% from a loss of Rs 89 crore during the same period last year. The losses were incurred mainly due to growth investments that included adding dark stores and warehouses.
Zomato aims to have 2,000 Blinkit stores by December 2025, a year ahead of the earlier guidance.
“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,” said Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO, Zomato.
Blinkit store count crossed the 1,000 mark one quarter ahead of the original plan, Zomato said. The company now aims to have 2,000 Blinkit stores by December 2025, a year ahead of the earlier guidance.
Going-out segment to be the main focus
The going-out business generated Rs 259 crore in Q3, up 3.5x from Rs 73 crore in the same quarter a year earlier and around a 65% rise from Rs 154 crore in Q2 FY25.
It accounted for around 5% of the total revenue of the company in the third quarter of FY25. GOV for the business soared to Rs 2,495 crore in Q3 FY25 from Rs 1,849 crore in the previous quarter and Rs 858 crore in Q3 FY24.
Within the going-out segment, dining out and entertainment ticketing (movies, sports, and live events) are the most frequently used categories and the company is prioritising these two where it has planned to focus for at least the next couple of years.
It launched a new District app in November 2024 that enables customers to select different going-out experiences in India and has already crossed 6.5 million downloads.
Zomato had acquired Paytm’s entertainment ticketing business in August last year.
Cash balance surges
The cash balance of the company surged to Rs 19,235 crore at the end of the third quarter of FY25, up from Rs 12,015 a year ago and Rs 10,813 crore from the end of the previous quarter.
The increase is mainly due to a qualified institutional placement (QIP) through which Zomato raised Rs 8,500 crore late last year. The company aims to use the funds for Blinkit’s expansion and towards advertising and marketing initiatives.
Zomato’s share price tanked 7.27% on BSE Ltd. to close at Rs 230.70 on Monday. Zomato, which listed in 2021, has seen its share price rise 83% since then. In the last one year alone its shares have risen 77%.
Going forward, too, Blinkit is expected to weigh on Zomato’s bottom line. “As we continue to bring forward store expansion, our networks may have to carry a greater load of under-utilised stores, which will impact near-term profits in the next one or two quarters,” said Akshant Goyal, chief financial officer, Zomato.
“Once we come out from this period of expansion, the business is likely to turn sharply from being lossmaking to becoming meaningfully profitable as a larger part of our business starts comprising mature stores compared to newly added ones,” Akshant added.
Quick commerce in India is growing at a blistering speed led by the likes of Swiggy Instamart, Zepto, and Zomato’s Blinkit, which are slugging it out to deliver freshly prepared meals to doorsteps in less than 15 minutes.
Amazon, too, had plans to begin trials for quick commerce operations in India that would see the US e-commerce giant deliver grocery items in 15 minutes or less.
