Zomato Adds 2 Percent Pay-on-Delivery Fee, Raising Costs for Customers

Zomato has introduced a 2 percent fee, capped at Rs 30, for customers who choose to pay for food orders through cash or QR code at the time of delivery. The new pay-on-delivery charge is calculated on the cart value and is added to existing customer charges, including the Rs 14.9 platform fee.

The fee comes as Zomato manages the additional operational requirements associated with doorstep payment collection. Cash-on-delivery transactions account for about 20% of Zomato’s total order volume.

Zomato processed an estimated 270-280 million food delivery orders during the April-June quarter, equivalent to about 2.9-3.1 million orders a day. Its net order value for the June quarter stood at Rs 10,769 crore, marking a 20% increase from the year-earlier period.

The additional customer charge comes as food delivery platforms face competition from lower-fee models. Swiggy has not introduced a similar pay-on-delivery fee, while Rapido’s food delivery venture Ownly has said it will not charge customers such fees and will operate without commissions from partner restaurants. Swiggy has also launched Toing in Bengaluru with a low-cost positioning.

In his recent shareholders’ letter, Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal said the company had seen limited impact from such competition. He said the newer models were relying on price-led traction that he described as unsustainable, adding that Zomato was not spending significant effort responding to them.