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Food delivery aggregator Zomato has posted a consolidated loss of ₹356.2 crore during the quarter ended June 30, 2021. A year ago, same period, the loss was ₹99.8 crore.
Zomato’s total revenue from operations jumped to ₹844.4 crore during the quarter under review, compared with ₹266 crore in the corresponding period last year.
In a filing with the stock exchanges, the company said revenue growth was largely on the back of growth in its core food delivery business that continued to grow despite the severe Covid wave starting April.
On the other hand, Covid significantly impacted the dining-out business in Q1 FY22 reversing most of the gains the industry made in Q4 FY21. Q1 FY22 was also one of the most challenging quarters for our team. “As the second Covid wave ravaged the nation, we were left scrambling to work on multiple things at the same time. At the peak of the second wave, almost 35 per cent of our employees were battling Covid in their households,” the statement said.
It said its India food delivery business continues to remain contribution positive; although the contribution margin reduced slightly in Q1 FY22 as compared to the previous quarter on account of growing investments in addition to the costlier business environment (due to lockdowns) in which this growth was achieved.
Payout structure
The statement added that during the course of the year, the company has redesigned its payout structure for its delivery partners. “We added an additional fee for long-distance and increase in fuel prices (among other variables) to ensure delivery partners are fairly compensated.”
The subsequent increase in their earnings per order is 15 per cent higher than what it was about a year ago. The company has increased (1.5x-2x, depending on delivery partner’s age and quality on the platform) the existing cash limit for its delivery partners, enabling them to utilise cash collected from cash-on-delivery orders for their own spends, thereby improving the available working capital with them for their mid-week spends.
This outstanding amount is adjusted against the weekly payout, saving the delivery partners time, trips, and cash-in-hand deficits. The company said it let go of physical onboarding centres for new delivery partners.
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