Latest news with #AmiteshJha
Time of India
01-08-2025
- Business
- Time of India
ETtech Explainer: Swiggy's losses balloon despite moving towards improving economics
The company reiterated that it is past the expansionary phase in quick commerce. 'With nearly half our dark stores less than a year old, we're now shifting gears—from rapid expansion to consolidation and leverage,' it had said in its FY25 annual report, published earlier this week. It even slowed down dark store additions in the April-June period, with only 41 stores being added to its network, compared to 316 in the January-March quarter. In an interaction with ET, Swiggy CFO Rahul Bothra said that any expansion from hereon will be a 'derivative of growth and not necessarily flag planting.' During the company's earnings call, Instamart CEO Amitesh Jha said that the company can find near-term growth from the top 10-20 cities and will focus on that. On the unit economics front, Swiggy said it was pushing higher average order values (AOVs) on Instamart. For the June quarter, AOVs increased 16% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to Rs 612. To achieve higher AOVs, the company said it was focusing on Maxxsaver—its bulk order offering that lets users order a larger number of items with higher discounts. This helps the company save on last-mile logistics costs. It also increased the minimum basket size on Instamart for free deliveries, resulting in the filtering out of low AOV orders. In Q1, besides the heavy losses, Swiggy also burnt through more than Rs 1,000 crore in cash—the second consecutive quarter of it doing so. For quick commerce, the company saw orders per dark store per day declining on a sequential basis to 985 from 1,190. On a YoY basis, Instamart's gross order value (GOV) per square foot fell about 20% to Rs 13,163. Swiggy also said that its operating losses for Instamart peaked in March. However, adjusted Ebitda loss for the June quarter came in at Rs 896 crore, up from Rs 840 crore in Q4FY25 and Rs 318 crore in Q1FY25. Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills Swiggy added a significant number of dark stores in the March quarter, and the full cost of operating those new stores hit in Q1, before they had time to mature and become efficient. Just like it did in its food delivery business, the company spent more on getting delivery partners on board during Q1 on account of seasonal challenges like monsoon and reverse migration. Maxxsaver was fully rolled out in Q1, and Swiggy said that while it helped increase AOVs, it didn't boost contribution margins immediately. Swiggy's fixed expenses jumped by Rs 56 crore compared to the previous quarter, mainly due to employee appraisals and hiring of senior executives. Even though store expansion has slowed, the company continues to spend heavily on brand and performance marketing to compete with rivals, keeping overall costs high. When Swiggy reported its losses for the April-June quarter, doubling to Rs 1,197 crore , it laid out a series of steps it had taken to improve profitability. But the high cash burn that the company is fraught with indicates that these measures may take some time to show their impact. For its quick commerce business , Instamart, Swiggy continued to guide for a contribution margin break-even between Q3FY26 and Q1FY27. Contribution refers to revenue minus the direct order fulfilment said that while Instamart's contribution margin is likely to improve going forward, Swiggy's falling cash balance remained a of June 30, Swiggy had a consolidated cash balance of Rs 5,354 crore, down from Rs 6,695 crore as of March 31 and Rs 8,183 crore as of December 31.'In our view, (Swiggy's) quick commerce contribution margins should improve sharply in the coming quarters with improvement in average throughput per store…cash balance is already down from around $1 billion in Q3FY25 to $620 million after Q1FY26. If capital expenditure and working capital investments do not fall sharply in the coming quarters, we worry cash exhaustion could continue to be significant,' HSBC Global Research said in a note on stock ended 2.85% down at Rs 392.3 on the BSE on Friday.
Time of India
31-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Swiggy weighs Rapido exit amid conflict, loss widens to Rs 1,197 crore in Q1
BENGALURU: Swiggy is re-evaluating its 12% stake in bike-taxi startup Rapido after the latter announced plans to enter food delivery, a potential conflict with Swiggy's core business. 'When we got in two and a half years back, it was a mobility player doing really well. Unfortunately, it has decided to get into food delivery themselves. That has made us take notice of the conflict and therefore we're planning to go separate ways on this,' CEO Harsha Majety told analysts. The development comes as Swiggy's loss for the June quarter widened to Rs 1,197 crore from Rs 611 crore a year ago, even as revenue from operations surged 54% to Rs 4,961 crore. Quick commerce remained the company's biggest growth driver. Instamart's gross order value doubled year-on-year to Rs 5,655 crore, aided by a 26% jump in average order value to Rs 612 from its basket-building feature Maxxsaver. Contribution margins improved by 97 basis points sequentially to -4.6%, though the segment posted a loss of Rs 896 crore. Amitesh Jha, CEO of Instamart, said the focus would remain on deepening penetration in existing markets rather than adding new cities. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Jolie-Pitt Family Shows Support For Shiloh's Change Drivepedia Undo 'Market penetration is so low in the cities out of the top 10 or 20 that we believe the right opportunity is to be focused and not necessarily measured,' he said, adding that there is 'enough headroom for growth in the 127 cities we are already in.' Swiggy added 41 darkstores in the quarter, taking its network to 1,062. Food delivery continued to grow steadily, with gross order value rising 18.8% to Rs 8,086 crore. Adjusted Ebitda margin in the segment slipped to 2.4% from 2.9% sequentially, which Swiggy attributed to seasonal delivery-partner incentives and annual wage hikes. The company is also experimenting with new consumer offerings. Bolt, its 10-minute food delivery service, now contributes over 10% of orders, while the 99-Store targets price-sensitive Gen-Z users. Average monthly transacting users on the platform rose 35% year-on-year to 21.6 million, with more than a third using multiple services. Swiggy ended the quarter with Rs 5,354 crore in cash and reiterated its guidance to break even on quick commerce contribution margins between Q3 FY26 and Q1 FY27. Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . Discover stories of India's leading eco-innovators at Ecopreneur Honours 2025
Time of India
22-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Instamart CEO Amitesh Jha on quick commerce, hyperlocal bets and winning the Indian consumer one ad at a time
Bengaluru: 'If I like the campaign, maybe it's a problem,' says Amitesh Jha with a laugh. 'If I'm confused or scandalised, then the marketing team is doing something right.' In a landscape where 10-minute delivery is no longer the headline but the hygiene, India's most agile quick commerce player is doubling down on localised SKU curation , brand launches, and campaigns. At the ETRetail E-commerce & Digital Natives Summit in Bengaluru, Instamart CEO Amitesh Jha sat down for a candid fireside chat offering deep insight into what it takes to run and grow a quick commerce engine in India's most demanding consumer climate. The Indian consumer, decoded (again and again) 'The Indian consumer changes fast, sometimes even faster than we can model,' Jha observed. 'But some fundamentals never change. They want affordability, trust, convenience and speed. These needs are timeless and they apply to Gen Z as much as to a boomer.' Quick commerce, he explains, is far more local than it appears. "It's a micromarket business. You can't win by applying national playbooks. What sells in Bucha is very different from what sells in MG Road or Palam Vihar.' At Instamart, assortment decisions are made not just city-wise, but pin code by pin code. 'You're constrained by time and space. We can't offer an infinite aisle like traditional ecommerce. So we go hyperlocal .' This, he says, is what makes the job challenging and fascinating. 'We sometimes find that two cities in the same state say, Hyderabad and Guntur, can have a 50% difference in their top-performing food SKUs.' A market of surprises, not assumptions What excites Jha is how unpredictable demand can be. 'Every six months, our mental models change. A tier 3 town with five lakh people suddenly starts clocking tier 1-like growth. We're constantly recalibrating.' He's clear on one thing: brands or platforms that get rigid about their assumptions are bound to lose. ' Consumer demand in India is fluid. If you're not evolving every quarter, you're already behind.' The art of going viral Instamart's mango drop campaign, where the colour of the fruit changed depending on the weather, was one such bold move. 'We couldn't run it in Bangalore because it was too cloudy,' Jha chuckled. 'But that's what made it interesting. We don't just want people to watch an ad. We want them to discuss it, debate it, share it.' But he is quick to clarify: good branding doesn't always show up in next-day dashboards. 'You have to be consistent, long-term, and sometimes uncomfortably bold. If the campaign is making too much sense to the senior leadership… it probably won't go viral.'
Time of India
18-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Instamart CEO sees quick commerce dominate shopping mode in five years
Synopsis Quick commerce penetration is extremely low, while consumer love for it is extremely high, said Amitesh Jha at the second edition of the Indian Healthy Snacking Summit in New Delhi. Unlike traditional ecommerce, product shelf space on quick commerce platforms will remain limited, he pointed out.
Time of India
09-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Instamart partners with Bharat Organics to bring certified organic staples to Indian homes
Swiggy's Instamart on Monday announced that it has joined hands with Bharat Organics , a farmer-led cooperative brand, to launch a range of certified organic staples across major Indian cities. The partnership, forged through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Cooperative Organic Limited (NCOL), will make 21 organic food products available to consumers via Instamart's digital platform. Shares of Swiggy Ltd were trading at Rs 364.35, down Rs 10.10 (2.70 per cent ) as of 1:22 pm IST. The alliance is aimed at connecting India's traditional organic farming cooperatives to the country's growing base of health-conscious, digital-first consumers. Products such as pulses, spices, cereals, sweeteners, teas, and organic oils will now be accessible on Instamart in metros and Tier-1 cities at prices significantly below market rates. 'This initiative also aligns with the Government of India's broader vision under White Revolution 2.0, which emphasizes strengthening the agri-cooperative ecosystem through sustainable practices, market access, and digital enablement. By connecting traditional farmer cooperatives to tech-enabled platforms like Instamart, the partnership underscores the role of cooperatives in shaping a healthier, more resilient India,' it said in a statement. 'This partnership with Bharat Organics helps us take a significant step toward promoting healthier living by making a wide range of organic product options easily available to the customers of Instamart,' said Amitesh Jha, CEO, Instamart. 'It also aligns with our broader goal of supporting the growth of local communities through technology. In addition to this, this collaboration is beneficial for India's organic farmers, by enabling greater market access.' Consumers will be able to choose from staples including tur dal, masoor dal, rajma, kabuli chana, basmati rice, atta, jaggery powder, whole and ground spices, honey, ghee, and herbal teas. Every pack comes with a QR code linking to real-time lab test reports verifying pesticide-free status, certified against over 245 residues, marking a new level of transparency in India's grocery segment. Prices have been deliberately kept competitive to encourage adoption. For example, organic tur dal will retail at Rs 240/kg, notably lower than the market average of Rs 290–Rs 300/kg. Shri Ashish Kumar Bhutani, Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, welcomed the initiative. 'With Bharat Organics, we're offering a range of clean, lab-tested organic staples that are not only accessible to consumers but also ensure fair returns for farming communities. The launch on Swiggy Instamart is a meaningful step forward, bridging our agricultural roots with today's digital consumer landscape.' Shri Vipul Mittal, Managing Director, NCOL, added, 'Swiggy Instamart's reach, reliability, and consumer trust make it an ideal platform to bring Bharat Organics into the homes of a new generation of mindful buyers. Through Swiggy's platform, we're not only delivering food but also building trust, transparency, and empowerment into the grocery-buying experience.' Bharat Organics follows a farmer-first profit-sharing model, with nearly 50 per cent of profits going directly to member farmers. The brand already has a strong offline presence across Delhi-NCR, with distribution through 10,000+ retail outlets including 300+ Safal stores via its partnership with Mother Dairy, it informed. The Instamart collaboration marks its first major foray into digital grocery retail .
