Swiggy vs Zomato: Who's Winning India's Food and Grocery Race?

When you think of ordering food online or getting groceries delivered in a flash, two names probably pop into your head: Zomato and Swiggy. These two giants are always trying to be the best in India's fast-growing delivery world. But who's actually ahead in this race? Looking at some recent numbers, Eternal, also known as Zomato, seems to have an edge in several key areas. For instance, Zomato earned a massive ₹5,000 crore more in revenue than Swiggy last year and also managed to attract 58 lakh more customers on average who order regularly. In the super-fast grocery delivery space, known as quick commerce, Zomato’s Blinkit also delivers 3.6 lakh more orders every single day compared to Swiggy’s Instamart.

In this blog, we'll simply break down how Zomato and Swiggy compare on important things like money earned, number of customers, and their performance in the quick grocery delivery (quick commerce) game, including who is making a profit. Furthermore, we'll explore what these comparisons and financial details could mean for you, especially if you're looking at these companies from an investment perspective, helping you understand not just who's leading, but also some of the underlying financial health and market perceptions.

The Big Picture: Revenue and Profits

Revenue is like the total money a company makes from its sales before taking out expenses. Last year in FY25, Zomato’s parent Eternal reported 67% YoY (year-on-year) growth in revenue to ₹20,243 crore. While Swiggy grew at 35% to a revenue of ₹15,227 crore during the same period. This means Zomato made over ₹5,000 crore more than Swiggy.

Now, let's talk about profit. Zomato reported a profit of ₹527 crore, which surged around 50% compared to the previous year. On the other hand, Swiggy reported a loss of ₹3,117 crore, which went up by 33% compared to the previous year.

Source: Company filings | Zomato = Eternal

More Customers Ordering In

For food delivery, Zomato had an average of 2.09 crore customers ordering each month. Swiggy also had a large customer base, with 1.51 crore monthly transacting users. So, Zomato had about 58 lakh more regular food delivery customers than Swiggy.

Both companies charge a small platform fee worth around ₹10 on orders. Zomato collected ₹235 crore from this fee, while Swiggy collected ₹221 crore. This again shows Zomato's larger order volume.

The Quick Commerce Race: Groceries in Minutes!

Quick commerce is all about delivering groceries and other small items to your doorstep super fast, usually in 10-30 minutes. Zomato does this through Blinkit, and Swiggy has Instamart. This is a big new area where both are competing hard.

Here’s how they stack up in quick commerce:

• Daily Orders: Zomato’s Blinkit processes around 1,574,210 (15.7 lakh) orders every day in its quick commerce segment. While Swiggy’s Instamart handles about 1,214,990 (12.15 lakh) orders daily. That's a lead of over 3.6 lakh daily orders for Zomato.
• Average Order Value (AOV): This is the average amount a customer spends on one order. For Blinkit, the AOV is ₹665. For Instamart, it's ₹527. This means customers tend to spend ₹138 more per order on Blinkit.
• Dark Stores: To deliver so quickly, these companies use "dark stores." These are like mini-warehouses spread across the city. Zomato has more of these, with 1,301 total store counts compared to Swiggy's 1,021.
• Orders per Dark Store: Zomato also seems to be taking the lead with dark stores, with each store handling about 1,210 orders per day, while Swiggy's stores handle around 1,190 orders per day.
• YoY Growth: Blinkit’s sales grew 126% YoY to ₹5,206 crore in FY25, while Instamart managed to grow at 118% to ₹2,130 crore during the period. Coming to the segment losses (EBITDA of the quick commerce business), both the brands are in losses; however, Blinkit significantly (92%) cut down its losses while Instamart’s losses increased 60% during the period.

Source: Company filings

Who is Leading the Market Overall?

While the numbers above give a clear picture based on the provided data, the Indian food and grocery delivery market is huge and always changing. Reports from market analysts often look at market share, which is like asking what piece of the whole pie each company has. Most recent reports suggest Zomato has a larger market share in food delivery, around 55-58%, while Swiggy holds about 42-45%. In the quick commerce space, Zomato's Blinkit also appears to have an edge.

The entire online food delivery market in India is growing incredibly fast. It was valued at billions of dollars and is expected to grow even more, potentially reaching over $200 billion by 2030. This means there's a lot of room for both companies to grow.

What Does This Mean for You?

For everyday users, this competition means more choices, better deals, and faster deliveries as both Zomato and Swiggy try to win you over. For those interested in the business side, Zomato's current numbers, especially its profitability and higher revenue, show strong performance. Both are big players, but Zomato currently seems to have the upper hand in several important areas based on the latest available figures.

Growth and Profits: Both companies are looking to grow and are largely focused on expanding their quick commerce business by opening new dark stores quarter-on-quarter. The food delivery business of the duo grew at a pace of around 27% (Zomato) and 23% (Swiggy), while the quick commerce biz went up 126% (Blinkit) and 118% (Instamart). Despite having a larger base, Zomato has taken the lead in YoY growth in terms of growth of food delivery as well as the grocery delivery business. Zomato has managed to generate profits in the last two fiscal years, while Swiggy is bleeding losses continuously, which also gives Zomato an upper hand. However, Zomato’s profits are largely driven by its other income worth ₹1,077 crore in FY25.

Duopoly Concerns: Zomato and Swiggy are the two major players in the Indian food delivery market, collectively holding over 90% market share. This dominance has led to several concerns for restaurants, consumers, and the competitive landscape. Because they're so dominant, restaurants sometimes have to pay them a big chunk of money (like 30-40 rupees out of every 100) from each order. For customers, it can mean food delivery ends up costing more.

Because this situation might not be fair, the government might introduce new policies. Also, platforms like ONDC could help new, smaller delivery apps emerge, giving people more choices and making things fairer.

Higher Price Tag for Zomato: Recently, Eternal (Zomato) is trading at a Price to Sales ratio of 12.2 times, while Swiggy is at 6. In simple terms, investors are willing to pay ₹12.20 for every ₹1 of Zomato’s sales, compared to just ₹6 for every ₹1 of Swiggy’s sales. This means the market values Zomato’s revenue at more than double that of Swiggy’s, suggesting higher investor confidence in Zomato’s business model, growth prospects, or path to profitability. In contrast, the relatively lower valuation of Swiggy indicates a more cautious stance from investors despite similar industry exposure.

Thinking About Swiggy's Stock: Some financial experts believe that Swiggy's stock could be undervalued. They think the market understands Swiggy is spending a lot on its quick commerce (Instamart), but might not be fully appreciating how big and profitable Instamart could become in the future.

Share Price Performance: Zomato’s parent Eternal has seen a rise of 12.26% in the last five days and 21.48% since January 1, 2025, to date. While Swiggy’s stock price went up 9.85% in the last five days, however dropped 32.67% when compared to January 1, 2025.

The Bottom Line: Based on the analysis, Zomato seems to be doing better than Swiggy right now. Zomato is making more money and is actually earning a profit, while Swiggy is still losing money. In the super-fast grocery delivery business, Zomato's Blinkit is leading with more daily orders and customers spending more each time; it has also significantly reduced its losses in this segment, moving closer to profitability than Swiggy's Instamart. While both companies are expanding their grocery services, Zomato has shown faster growth overall, not just in groceries but also in its main food delivery business. People who invest seem to trust Zomato more, as they are willing to pay a higher price for Zomato's success, and its stock has been doing better lately. So, the numbers in this report suggest Zomato is currently leading in several important ways.

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