Zomato fee hike funds targeted discounts

Food delivery pricing in India just got a little less straightforward. Zomato’s parent, Eternal, used its April 28 earnings call to say the company is charging everyone a higher platform fee, then using part of that extra revenue to subsidize only the customers and neighborhoods where discounts still move demand. That is the news. The bigger point is that this turns the platform fee from a simple add-on into a funding pool for targeted growth. (medianama.com) ### What changed? Eternal’s CFO Akshant Goyal said the company is trying to increase revenue per order by raising the platform fee and then channeling that revenue toward “a select cohort of customers” in “select geographies” where growth is available. In plain English — everyone pays the surcharge, but only some users g(medianama.com)ive discounting. (medianama.com) ### How big was the fee hike? Zomato raised its platform fee in March 2026 by 19%, to ₹14.90 before tax. Medianama notes that the fee had already climbed in earlier steps — from ₹10 in September 2025 to ₹12, then ₹12.50, and now ₹14.90. At this point, the platform fee is 4% to 5% of the average order value, which means it is no longer a tiny rounding error on the bill. (medianama.com) ### Where is the money going? Eternal’s shareholder letter says the company lowered the minimum order value for free delivery for Gold members to ₹99 from ₹199 starting in Q2FY26. It also pushed lower-priced meals under ₹250 and stepped up targeted activation for budget-conscious users. So the strategy is not “discount e(medianama.com)y to order more if nudged. (medianama.com) ### Why would Zomato do that? Because blanket discounts are expensive, and food delivery is already a thin-margin business. A targeted model lets Zomato preserve revenue on less price-sensitive customers while still competing hard where demand is fragile. Deepinder Goyal said a falling net average order value is an inten(medianama.com)the balancing act — lower basket sizes, but better monetization around them. (medianama.com) ### Why does this matter beyond one quarter? It shows how mature the food-delivery market has become. Early on, platforms used giant public discount wars to buy growth. Now the game is more surgical. Platforms know which customers are bargain hunters, which neighborhoods still need stimulation, and which users will keep (medianama.com)e very different effective prices, even though both paid the same platform fee. (medianama.com) ### What else is hanging over the business? Eternal is also dealing with a GST dispute that Medianama says has crossed ₹420 crore. That does not directly cause the fee strategy, but it matters because it sits on top of a business already trying to protect margins while funding growth. When a company is juggling selective(medianama.com)tarts to matter more. (medianama.com) ### Is this just a Zomato story? Not really. Swiggy followed with its own platform-fee increase just days after Zomato’s March move. That suggests the fee is becoming a standard industry lever, not a one-off experiment. But Eternal is the one that has now spelled out the logic most clearly in public filings and the earnings call — raise a broad fee, then spend selectively. (medianama.com) ### Bottom line Zomato is not simply charging more. It is redesigning how food-delivery discounts get funded. Everyone chips in through a higher platform fee. Only some users see the benefit. That may be smart economics — but it also makes the app feel cheaper for some customers and quietly pricier for everyone else.