(Reuters) -India’s Swiggy reported a wider quarterly loss on Wednesday, as the online platform poured money into its quick commerce business to compete with rivals Zomato and Zepto.
The company reported a consolidated loss of 7.99 billion rupees ($91.40 million) for the third quarter ended Dec. 31, compared to a loss of 5.74 billion rupees a year earlier.
Companies such as Swiggy and Zomato are doubling down on quick commerce, aiming to deliver goods ranging from groceries o electronics in 10 minutes or less, by opening more warehouses or so-called “dark stores” to fulfil such orders.
Zomato, which owns Blinkit, plans to double its warehouse count to 2,000 by the end of 2025, while Swiggy has plans to close the financial year with twice as many fulfilment centers for its Instamart business from 523 a year ago.
Swiggy’s quarterly expenses jumped about 32% to 48.98 billion rupees.
“Instamart growth ramp-up continues amidst significant investments to expand the (quick delivery) market,” the company said in a press release.
The company added 96 new dark stores in the quarter, bringing its total to 705.
The rapid expansion in quick commerce and steady food delivery demand led to its revenue climbing about 31% to 39.93 billion rupees.
Food delivery revenue grew 24%, while quick commerce revenue more than doubled.
Instamart’s gross order value – the total monetary value of orders including delivery and packaging charges – rose 88% on higher consumer spending and expansion into new cities.
Meanwhile, the gross order value in its food business grew about 3% sequentially, as per Reuters calculations, led by the launch of a 10-minute delivery service called Bolt, but the growth slowed from the 5.6% increase last quarter.
($1 = 87.4170 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam; Editing by Varun H K)
