Swiggy and Zomato aren’t just household names, they’re the only listed bets on India’s food delivery and quick commerce boom. For investors looking to ride the next phase of consumption-led growth, these are the only dishes on the table. But the game is changing.
Zomato’s stock has climbed 18% in 2025 so far, reflecting its dominant position in the fast-growing quick commerce space. Swiggy, newly listed and still finding its footing, is down 42% even as it outpaces Zomato, recently rebranded to Eternal Ltd, in core food delivery growth. The divergence underscores a larger story: a mature business hitting its limits, and a new one burning cash in pursuit of scale.
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Food delivery: stable, saturated
Swiggy has pulled ahead in food delivery growth for the second straight quarter. In the March quarter (Q4FY25) , its Gross Order Value (GOV) rose 17.6% year-on-year, just above Zomato’s 16%. But the bigger picture suggests a plateau.
“There isn’t much room left for further upside in food delivery from a market share perspective,” said Sneha Poddar, vice president -research, Wealth Management at Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Zomato currently holds a 57% share, while Swiggy has the remaining 43%.
Despite a macro slowdown, Swiggy expects to grow its food delivery business at 18–22% in the medium term. Over 12% of its orders now come through Bolt, a service it sees as key to expanding volume and improving efficiency.
Zomato, meanwhile, is gradually leaning away from its core business. Food delivery made up 86% of its adjusted revenue in FY22, but that share dropped to 58% in FY24.
Blinkit, its quick commerce arm, contributed 17% of revenue last year, up from 9.3% in FY23.
Quick commerce: the real battleground
While Swiggy may be marginally ahead in food delivery growth, it’s Zomato’s Blinkit that’s stealing the spotlight in quick commerce.
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Blinkit, nearly twice the size of Swiggy’s Instamart, is still growing faster – its GOV jumped 134% year-on-year in Q4FY25, compared to Instamart’s 101%.
This isn’t just a two-horse race. Swiggy and Zomato are now competing with deep-pocketed rivals such as Zepto, Flipkart, Amazon, and Reliance JioMart. Flipkart is targeting 500 dark stores by end-2025, while Amazon has begun pilot tests in Bengaluru.
Poddar calls this the “real battleground” going forward, with the market pegged at $30 billion by FY28. There is ample room for 4–5 strong players to coexist, she said, especially given the low penetration in tier 3 and 4 cities.
Both Swiggy and Zomato are aggressively scaling up.
Swiggy opened 316 dark stores in the March quarter, more than in the previous six quarters combined, pushing its adjusted Ebitda loss to ₹840 crore, up from ₹578 crore the previous quarter.
On the latest earnings call, Swiggy’s chief financial officer, Rahul Bothra, said the spike in capex was driven by dark store additions and warehouse expansion, but noted that most of the company’s capex cycle is now behind it.
Zomato, via its Blinkit arm, has outlined ambitious plans to open 1,000 additional dark stores by December 2025, building on its current base of 1,371. Swiggy is estimated to add another 200–300 in FY26, highlighted Shobit Singhal, Research Analyst at Anand Rathi Institutional Equities.
“Both Swiggy and Zomato have been racing ahead in the quick commerce space, but the breakneck pace is now easing as high cash burn forces a more cautious approach,” Singhal said.
In the last quarter alone, Swiggy burned through approximately ₹840 crore, a figure that has since tapered off. Singhal expects the cash burn to moderate significantly starting Q1FY26.
Also read | Is quick commerce eating into the food delivery market?
“The initial investment blitz in quick commerce seems to be behind us,” Singhal said, pointing to a shift from aggressive expansion to operational discipline. But the road ahead remains tough: Swiggy’s adjusted Ebitda margin slipped from -10% in Q2 FY25 to -18% in Q4. Even so, Singhal believes profitability is within sight, likely emerging over the next 12 to 18 months.
