Zepto founder Aadit Palicha alleges smear campaign by rival CFO as quick commerce race heats up
Quick commerce
platform
Zepto
's cofounder
Aadit Palicha
has alleged that the chief financial officer (CFO) of a rival company is attempting to orchestrate a smear campaign against the startup by circulating false information to its investors, media, and on social media platforms.
Palicha claimed that the competitor's CFO had made 'wild allegations' without empirical evidence, and even gone to the extent of sharing 'false numbers and Excel sheets' with journalists through proxy sources.
The executive also alleged that bots were being paid to amplify a negative narrative online.
'Candidly, this episode is below the stature expected of the CFO of a high-quality company and makes it obvious that they are starting to get nervous about how fast Zepto's Ebdita is improving,' he wrote in a LinkedIn post. He said the company is choosing to respond preemptively in case any 'inaccurate information' appears in the media or on social media.
Palicha shared several performance indicators aimed at underscoring its financial health and growth momentum:
Live Events
Monthly gross order value (GOV) grew from Rs 750 crore in May 2024 to Rs 2,400 crore in May 2025, including ad revenue and fruits and vegetables sold at retail prices.
Ebdita improved by 2,000 basis points (20 percentage points) between January and May 2025, with cash burn down 65% during the same period.
The company posted 4–5% month-on-month growth, translating to a 20% GOV jump from January to May.
Zepto expects a majority of its
dark stores
to be fully Ebdita-positive by the next quarter, with company-level Ebdita and operating cash flow nearing breakeven.
The firm claims to have Rs 7,445 crore in net cash, reconciled with bank statements, offering 'many years of runway.'
Discover the stories of your interest
Blockchain
5 Stories
Cyber-safety
7 Stories
Fintech
9 Stories
E-comm
9 Stories
ML
8 Stories
Edtech
6 Stories
He asserted that it is not planning any large-scale store rationalisation, and instead is ramping up dark store launches. Palicha highlighted Zepto's finance and compliance practices, saying it has 'best-in-class' payment systems, vendor audits, asset verification, and a clean statutory audit record with Big Four firms. He cited past financial due diligence exercises with no material irregularities.
While the identity of the rival CFO was not named, the allegations come at a time when competition in India's quick commerce sector is intensifying with players like Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and Flipkart Minutes.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Deccan Herald
20 minutes ago
- Deccan Herald
BOOT model approved for tunnel road project
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said, 'The Cabinet provided administrative approval to the North-South corridor being planned from Hebbal to HSR Layout Silk Board Junction in two packages at a cost of Rs 17,780 crore.'
Time of India
33 minutes ago
- Time of India
52-day trawling ban from June 9
T'puram: The state cabinet on Thursday decided that the trawling ban off the state's coast will be for 52 days, from June 9 midnight to July 31 midnight. Continuation sanction was given for 688 temporary posts functioning under the land board of the revenue department. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The extension is for one year, from Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2025. Two new special deputy tahsildar posts will be created in the revenue department for KSFE. Additionally, 62 temporary posts created for 12 KIIFB land acquisition units will be extended for one more year from Nov 10, 2024. KIIFB will bear the service salary costs. The monthly salary of special public prosecutors in various special courts, including NDPS, SC/ST, Abkari, Pocso, and NIA courts, has been revised from Rs 60,000 to Rs 70,000 with effect from Jan 1, 2025. The caste name 'Ganika' (listed as the 19th entry in the OBC list of Kerala) will be modified to 'Ganika/Ganiga' based on the recommendation of the state backward classes commission. Approval was granted for CSIR-NIIST to establish a Centre for Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship in the second phase of the KLIP Bio 360 Life Sciences Park at Thonnakkal, Thiruvananthapuram. The Rs 215cr investment plan includes the lease of 10 acres of land for up to 90 years without financial liability. The annual lease rent for 20.7250 acres allotted to Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology in Thiruvananthapuram was revised to Rs 1 per cent from May 6, 2014, for 30 years. Revised estimate approval was also granted for the mechanical works of the Koottukadavu regulator construction project in Palakkad's Anakkara panchayat. A tender worth Rs 12.68cr was approved for development works at Bedadka taluk hospital, Kasaragod. Bids were cleared for water authority works in the following areas Idukki district (Rs 18.07cr), Chalikavattom and Thammanam areas in Kochi corporation under AMRUT 2.0 (Rs 1.62cr), Chennerkara and Omallur panchayats in Pathanamthitta (Rs 13.33cr), and Kalamassery municipality in Ernakulam (Rs 11.95cr under AMRUT 2.0).
Time of India
33 minutes ago
- Time of India
Bajaj Finserv promoters to sell 2% stake, eye Rs 5.8k crore
MUMBAI: Two promoter entities of financial services major Bajaj Finserv are set to sell nearly 2% of the company through block deals on Friday, aiming to raise about Rs 5,800 crore ($679 million). Bajaj Holdings & Investment and Jamnalal Sons have put 3.1 crore Bajaj Finserv shares on the block at a base price of Rs 1,880, as shown in the term sheet for the deal. Currently, the Bajaj family holds about 60.6% in the NBFC major. If the two entities sell the entire stake put on the block, the promoters' stake will decrease to 58.7%, currently worth about Rs 1.8 lakh crore. The base price of the shares being offered is Rs 1,880, a 3.3% discount to Bajaj Finserv's Thursday closing at Rs 1,944 on NSE. At the initial stage of the deal, the promoters are offering a little over 2.5 crore shares of Bajaj Finserv, translating to about 1.6% of the company. At the base price, this stake will fetch about Rs 4,750 crore ($554 million) for the promoter family, as indicated in the term sheet. In case there is strong demand for the shares of the NBFC major, they will offer an additional 57 lakh shares (0.36%) of the company. This will accrue an additional Rs 1,078 crore ($126 million) to the promoters. Lately, the revival in the stock market prompted several promoters to offload part of their overall holding in their companies. In May alone, promoters sold about Rs 48,000 crore worth of stocks in their companies through block deals, reports showed. Last month, Singapore Telecom, one of the promoters of telecom services major Bharti Airtel, sold part of its stake in the company for about Rs 13,300 crore. In another large block deal, BAT, a promoter of tobacco to FMCG major ITC, sold part of its stake for over Rs 12,000 crore. Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
