Latest news with #AkshantGoyal
The Hindu
16 hours ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Indian ride-hailing platform Rapido venturing into food delivery, document shows
Rapido is entering the food delivery segment with a new platform that charges restaurants a fixed fee per order, according to a proposal to restaurants seen by Reuters on Monday (June 9, 2025), as the Indian ride-hailing platform looks to compete with Swiggy and Eternal's Zomato. Swiggy and Zomato charge commission fees ranging from 16% to 30% on restaurant partners. Restaurants argue this forces them to inflate menu prices on these platforms, resulting in higher prices for consumers compared to in-store dining. Rapido, Eternal and Swiggy did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In its proposal, Rapido has asked partners to keep its pricing the same on the platform and in-store, with restaurants paying a fixed delivery fee of ₹25 rupees and taxes for orders worth more than ₹100. Customers would not need to pay platform or packaging fees, but will be charged a small delivery fee for orders below 100 rupees. The proposal did not specify what the fee would be or whether customers would be charged for orders above 100 rupees. The firm will charge a flat subscription fee from restaurants at a later time, the proposal added. Rapido, in which Swiggy is an investor, was valued at $1.1 billion in its last funding round in 2024, according to data from Tracxn. Shares of Eternal and Swiggy closed 1.9% and 2.6% lower on Monday, respectively. In a post-earnings call with analysts earnings last month, when asked about reports of Rapido's subscription-based model, Eternal CFO Akshant Goyal said he was not clear "how that model can make sense in the long run for all our stakeholders and us".
India.com
02-05-2025
- Business
- India.com
Bas news by Zomato's Deepinder Goyal, shuts this food delivery service…,net profit declined to…
Eternal, the parent company of Zomato and Blinkit, reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 39 crore for the fourth quarter ending in March. This is a decline compared to the Rs 175 crore net profit recorded during the same period last year. The company, which rebranded from Zomato to Eternal in March, also announced the closure of its Zomato Quick and Everyday operations. In a letter to shareholders, Eternal informed that it is shutting down Zomato Quick and Everyday businesses as it is not seeing the path to profitability without compromising on customer experience. It also observed that the current restaurant density and kitchen infrastructure is not set up for delivering orders in 10 minutes, leading to inconsistent customer experience. Notably, during the fourth quarter, Eternal's food delivery platform Zomato de-listed nearly 19,000 restaurants, which either did not pass muster on hygiene standards based on severe customer escalations, were mimicking established brands and misleading customers; or operating multiple identical menu listings to hog more listing impressions. Zomato Q4 Results In a regulatory filing, it said the results for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2025, along with the December-end quarter, are not comparable with other periods. Eternal's revenue from operations in the January-March quarter stood at Rs 5,833 crore against Rs 3,562 crore a year ago, the filing showed. During the quarter under review, Eternal's total expense stood at Rs 6,104 crore. It was Rs 3,636 crore in the year-ago period. Reflecting on the fourth quarter performance, Eternal Chief Financial Officer Akshant Goyal stated that on the profitability front, consolidated Adjusted EBITDA declined 15 per cent year-on-year to Rs 165 crore in Q4 FY25, largely on account of the accelerated investments in expanding its quick commerce store network, which was partly offset by the improvement in food delivery Adjusted EBITDA margin. 'As mentioned in our last shareholders' letter, the increase in losses was expected and in line with our plan to pull forward the expansion of our store network. We added 294 net new stores in Q4FY25, making our highest-ever net store addition in a single quarter. 'As a result, nearly 40 per cent of our overall network of 1,301 stores are under-utilised stores, opened in the last two quarters alone (216 in Q3FY25 and 294 in Q4FY25). We also added 1 million sq ft of new warehousing space to support the store expansion,' Albinder said. He further mentioned that the company does not have any plans to do private labels. Eternal founder Deepinder Goyal informed that he is back in the driver's seat as the food delivery CEO, with Rakesh Ranjan completing his two-year stint, as the firm follows a model of rotational leadership and implements an internal re-shuffle 'to get fresh perspectives into the business'. 'As of now, I am back in the driver's seat until we formalize the next set of leaders to take over for the next two years,' Deepinder said. The revenue reporting segments of the group include India food ordering and delivery, Hyperpure supplies (B2B), Blinkit (quick commerce), District (dining out and restaurant) and all other segments (residual). Talking about the factors behind the current slowdown in food delivery, Deepinder admitted that growth does remain below expectations for now, attributing it to the sluggish demand environment (especially on discretionary spending), shortage (temporary) of delivery partners due to the rapid expansion of the industry and competition from quick delivery of packaged food from other platforms, leading to drop in demand for food delivery from restaurants. 'Overall, however, we don't see any long-term structural reason for this slowdown, as the fundamentals – low penetration of restaurant food and increasing urbanisation and per capita income in India – remain unchanged,' he added. Asked about Zomato Quick and Everyday, he said, 'The current restaurant density & kitchen infrastructure is not set up for delivering orders in 10 minutes, which leads to inconsistent customer experience. As a result, we did not see any incrementality in demand while we ran Quick as an experiment for a few months'. 'In Q4FY25, about one-third of the going-out GOV was transacted through the District App. We expect to complete the full transition in the next couple of quarters, post which we will make our going-out offering accessible only on the District app,' he added. The Eternal CFO said he expects that competition (in the quick commerce space) is going to intensify further from here in the near term. 'This is the largest consumption category in the country and beyond just the early quick commerce players, we will continue to see competition from next-day delivery companies as they invest more in faster deliveries, especially in non grocery categories. While this does not change our long-term optimism for the business, we think, we will see sustained competitive intensity in the near term,' he stated. (With inputs from PTI)
Mint
01-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Zomato rules out future in ultra-fast food delivery, shuts down ‘quick' service
Zomato says it doesn't see a future for ultra-fast food delivery, and cited poor customer experience and limited incremental value as key reasons for shutting down its Quick and Everyday services. In its Q4 FY25 earnings call on Thursday, the company emphasised that the model is not aligned with its long-term vision and is no longer a strategic focus. The management explained the rationale behind shutting down its ultra-fast food delivery service, Quick; saying that the initiative aimed to cut delivery times drastically, but the company found that this came at the cost of customer experience and operational feasibility. Importantly, the expected boost in demand didn't materialize. '...I think Quick was an attempt to bring down the delivery time from the average—let's say 30 minutes for the platform—to 10 minutes. What we realized is that it's extremely hard, and we don't see any incrementality in demand by doing that, especially given that customer experience is poor…Our view is that we should try to bring that 30 minutes down to maybe 20–25 minutes over time by making our overall logistics fleet and delivery system more efficient. Those are the gains we want to chase now, rather than trying to build an extremely quick service, which, without end-to-end control on the supply chain, we think is extremely hard to do," said Akshant Goyal, chief financial officer at Zomato. This shift reflects a more sustainable and scalable approach, especially in the absence of full control over the supply chain, and the absence of any meaningful uplift in demand. Goyal also explained its decision to shut down Everyday, noting '...given that it's a more operation-intensive business, with a different business model, etc., we just didn't see the value in continuing to run that when we don't really see an opportunity to grow beyond a certain scale." Goyal further acknowledged the structural limitations of its marketplace model, particularly in contrast to quick commerce, where end-to-end control over customer experience is more feasible. 'We are a marketplace business. So unlike the quick commerce business, we don't control the end-to-end experience for customers. And I think in some ways, on these three metrics—assortment, delivery times, and affordability—as a business, we've not been able to actually make a meaningful dent on these three vectors, despite trying multiple things in the last one or two years. But the eventual answer to driving more growth than what we'd see without any effort lies in breaking through one or more of these vectors…," Goyal added. Albinder Dhindsa, founder of Blinkit, also pointed to intensifying competition as a key factor stalling margin growth. It faces challenges not only from established players but also from new entrants, with pressure coming in many forms—heavy discounting, aggressive marketing campaigns, free delivery offerings, and rapid expansion of service coverage. This multifaceted competitive landscape adds to the challenge of sustaining margins and growth, particularly in the already crowded and high-burn category like quick commerce, and also limits the company's ability to raise delivery fees in certain regions or push for higher-margin offerings. Zomato reported a 77% year-on-year (y-o-y) decline in its Q4 FY25 profit, with net profit falling to ₹ 39 crore. Revenue grew 64% y-o-y to ₹ 5,833 crore, driven by performances in quick commerce (Blinkit) and B2B supplies (Hyperpure). On a sequential basis, net profit dropped 34% from ₹ 59 crore in Q3 FY25, while revenue rose 7.9% quarter-on-quarter from ₹ 5,405 crore. 'I think the impact of competition is visible in the lack of significant margin expansion that we would have otherwise expected. That's both because there are now more players in the market, and there's obviously more competition across categories to market to the same set of customers, which is leading to some margin pressure—both in terms of being able to charge higher delivery fees in some geographies, and also in being able to sell more of the higher-margin categories on the platform," Dhindsa added. Goyal added a strategic shift in its expansion focus toward smaller cities, noting that a growing share of new store openings is now occurring outside the top eight urban centres. This marks a notable pivot from earlier phases, during which Zomato had exited from 225 smaller cities in early 2023 due to subdued performance in several Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
Time of India
01-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Zomato Q4 earnings: strong growth, slim profit
Next Zomato Q4 earnings: strong growth, slim profit Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox? Also in the letter: Eternal Q4 report: Net profit plummets on Blinkit losses; food delivery stays in the slow lane Key numbers: Revenue surged 64% YoY to Rs 5,833 crore. Food delivery gross order value (GOV) grew 16% YoY but declined 1% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ). Blinkit's operating losses rose sharply to Rs 178 crore, up from Rs 108 crore in Q3FY25. Business shutdown: Food delivery slump: A sluggish demand environment. Temporary delivery worker shortages due to the expansion of quick commerce. Rising competition from quick commerce platforms delivering packaged food. Also Read: 'Will grow Blinkit's market share aggressively': Eternal CFO Akshant Goyal Also Read: Management mindset: Also Read: Elon Musk, Tesla board deny report on CEO succession plans The claims: It claimed the move was partly driven by concerns over Musk's growing proximity to president Donald Trump and his administration. The report also stated that board members had met with Musk and urged him to publicly commit to spending more time at Tesla. Recent developments: Tesla's response: Meta profits unaffected by AI spends, Microsoft pumps brakes Meta Q1 scorecard: Microsoft's March quarter: What's next: Adani pauses talks with Israel's Tower for $10 billion India chip foray, sources say Driving the news: In September, the Maharashtra government approved the Adani-Tower project to establish a semiconductor facility targeting 80,000 wafers per month and creating 5,000 jobs, supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign to position India as a global chipmaking hub. However, the Adani Group has since halted talks following an internal review that raised concerns about demand, particularly within the domestic market, the report added. Bigger picture: Adani's move marks another potential setback for Modi's "Make in India" semiconductor initiative. This programme is central to bolstering India's geopolitical standing in the electronics manufacturing sector. Yet, the country still lacks a single operational semiconductor fabrication facility. Goodbye GPT-4: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman bids farewell to a 'revolutionary' model What's changing: Looking back: What else: Zomato parent Eternal reported a drop in its net profit due to increasing losses in Blinkit, even as food delivery growth continued to be subdued. This and more in today's ETtech Top 5.■ Tesla board backs Musk■ Meta stays steady, Microsoft pauses■ Adani's holding its chipsDeepinder Goyal, CEO, EternalGurgaon-based Eternal, the parent company of Zomato and Blinkit, reported a 78% year-on-year (YoY) drop in net profit to Rs 39 crore for the March 2025 has shuttered its 15-minute food delivery service, Quick and homely meals offering, Everyday, due to weak demand. CEO Deepinder Goyal, in a letter to shareholders, said the company saw no visible 'path to profitability' for these services 'without compromising customer experience.'Goyal outlined three key reasons behind the slowdown in food delivery Goyal, CFO, EternalEternal's quick commerce arm, Blinkit, continued to drag down profitability during the March quarter as it ramped up its dark store network . CFO Akshant Goyal said the company remains focused on capturing market share, even at the cost of short-term noted that intensifying competition in the quick commerce space is driving up costs across marketing, real estate, and last-mile Musk, CEO, TeslaBillionaire Elon Musk and the board of EV maker Tesla have denied a bombshell Wall Street Journal report alleging the company has been exploring potential successors for its to the report, Tesla board members began contacting executive search firms about a month ago to identify possible replacements for Musk Last week , Musk announced he would 'cut back significantly' on the time he devotes to working with the Trump administration, pledging to focus more on his companies. The statement followed investor unease over his involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has faced came alongside recent protests and incidents of vandalism at Tesla locations in the US and Europe. Tesla's stock has declined since December, with the company shedding nearly $600 billion in market value. Musk's net worth has also dropped by approximately $150 billion since chair Robyn Denholm dismissed the report as 'absolutely false,' adding that the board remains 'highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead.'Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, MetaFacebook and Instagram parent Meta beat expectations with strong first-quarter profits, easing concerns over its aggressive investments in cloud computing and artificial intelligence. In contrast, Microsoft has moderated its AI spending after 10 consecutive quarters of social media giant posted a $16.6 billion profit for the three months to March, on revenue of $42.3 billion. The Mark Zuckerberg-led company has earmarked $64-72 billion in capital expenditures for 2025, primarily to support its AI for the Windows maker rose 13% year-on-year to over $70 billion, while profit climbed 18% to $25.8 billion. Overall, results highlighted unexpected resilience across Microsoft's business said it is making good progress on AI glasses and its Meta AI platform. Zuckerberg noted that the company is already deploying its AI tools across platforms – from ad creation and targeting to personalised content recommendations. However, Meta still faces a major antitrust case that could lead to the forced divestiture of WhatsApp and Microsoft, CEO Satya Nadella said demand for cloud and AI services remained strong. The company is adjusting its investments based on improvements in computing efficiency, regional demand patterns, and the types of services its customers Adani, chairman, Adani GroupGautam Adani's eponymous group has paused talks with Israel's Tower Semiconductor over a planned $10 billion chip manufacturing project in India, citing a lack of strategic and commercial alignment, sources told Altman, CEO, OpenAISam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, expressed his farewell to GPT-4 on X, remarking that it 'kicked off a revolution.' He indicated that the weights of GPT-4 would be preserved on a special hard drive for future has announced the complete replacement of GPT-4 with GPT-4o. However, GPT-4 will still be accessible through its API (Application Programming Interface). Launched in March 2023 , GPT-4 marked a significant milestone for OpenAI, introducing multimodal capabilities that enable the model to comprehend both text and images. It has powered ChatGPT and Microsoft's AI assistant, Copilot. Altman previously disclosed that the training of GPT-4 cost over $100 retirement of GPT-4 follows OpenAI's reversal of what Altman described as an 'annoying' update to GPT-4o , which had prompted user complaints regarding the chatbot's overly optimistic and flattering responses.
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Business Standard
01-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Zomato's parent Eternal Q4 net profit tanks 77% to ₹39 cr, revenue up 63%
Eternal Ltd has reported a consolidated net profit of ₹39 crore for the fourth quarter of the financial year 2025 (FY25), marking a 77 per cent decline from the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year. The food delivery major, Eternal —formerly known as Zomato—reported revenue from operations at ₹5,833 crore. 'Blinkit is on track to reach 2,000 stores by December 2025. However, food delivery growth remains below our expectations for now,' the company said in a statement. Eternal also announced the shutdown of its services Zomato Quick and Everyday, citing the absence of a clear path to profitability. Total income rose over 60 per cent to ₹6,201 crore compared to the fourth quarter of the previous financial year. The decline in net profit has been attributed to a significant rise in expenses. The company's total expenses grew by 63 per cent to ₹6,104 crore. For FY25, revenue from operations increased by 67 per cent to ₹20,243 crore. Similarly, total income rose by 64 per cent to ₹21,320 crore. The company's net profit for FY25 surged by 139 per cent to ₹697 crore. Speaking on profitability, Chief Financial Officer Akshant Goyal said: 'Net Order Value (NOV) of our B2C businesses grew 53 per cent year-on-year (YoY) and 5 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to ₹17,440 crore in Q4FY25. On a like-for-like basis—excluding the impact of the Paytm entertainment ticketing business acquisition—NOV growth was 48 per cent YoY and 5 per cent QoQ.' 'Our B2B business, Hyperpure, reported a 93 per cent YoY increase in revenue (10 per cent QoQ). Consolidated adjusted revenue grew 60 per cent YoY and 8 per cent QoQ to ₹6,188 crore,' Goyal added. Eternal FY25 Financial Summary Net Profit: ₹527 crore (up 50 per cent from ₹351 crore in FY24) Q4 FY25 Highlights Net Profit (attributable to owners): ₹39 crore Earnings per Share (EPS): ₹0.04 (Basic and Diluted) FY25 Highlights Revenue: ₹20,243 crore Net Profit (attributable to owners): ₹697 crore
