Zomato quarterly loss nearly halves as orders surge

Indian food delivery firm Zomato Ltd, backed by China's Ant Group, posted a smaller quarterly loss on Monday, helped by an increase in orders for restaurant meals on its platform.

The company's net loss stood at 1.86 billion Indian rupees ($23.52 million) for the three months ended June 30, compared with a loss of 3.56 billion rupees a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Zomato's revenue from operations, which mostly comes from its mainstay food delivery and related fees it charges restaurants for using its platform, rose to 14.14 billion rupees from 8.44 billion rupees a year ago.

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The Gurugram-based company, which operates in more than 1,000 towns and cities in India, also offers online table booking and special discounts at select restaurants.

Gross order value - or the total value of all food delivery orders placed online on Zomato's platform - for the first quarter rose 41.6 per cent to 64.3 billion rupees from a year ago, with average monthly transacting customers at 16.7 million.

While Zomato has disclosed quarterly losses since going public in 2021, it has seen a consistent rise in orders.

"Margins are getting negatively impacted due to higher fuel costs and wage inflation," Chief Executive Deepinder Goyal said in a statement, adding that monthly transacting customers were likely to drive volume growth.

The domestic food delivery market is expected to grow three times over the next five years, helped by rising order frequency and user addition, with Zomato expected to maintain a market share in the range of 45-50 per cent, analysts at Credit Suisse said in a note last month.