New Delhi, Sept, 12: Zomato has started charging customers an additional fee of Rs 5 to Rs 20 for choosing cash on delivery, adding a new cost to an increasingly common payment option as food-delivery platforms compete to improve monetisation.
The “pay on delivery fee” appears separately in the bill summary on the Zomato app when customers select cash payment at the time of delivery. Multiple reports based on app screenshots indicate that the charge is commonly Rs 5, while some customers have reportedly been billed Rs 7 and, in certain cases, as much as Rs 20.
The new charge applies specifically to customers opting for cash payment and remains separate from other components of the order bill, including Zomato’s platform fee, restaurant packaging charges and GST. Customers who pay for their orders online do not incur the additional cash-on-delivery fee.
The move comes as Zomato processes an estimated 2.3 million to 2.5 million food orders each day while competition in the food-delivery market intensifies. Rapido’s Ownly has been gaining traction, while Flipkart is piloting its Eat In food-delivery offering.
Zomato’s move also comes against the backdrop of rising platform charges in the sector. Food-delivery companies began introducing platform fees in 2023, with Swiggy initially charging Rs 2 per order before Zomato followed with its own levy. Zomato increased its platform fee to Rs 14.99 per order earlier this year from Rs 12.50, with GST charged separately.
At the current order volumes, even relatively small increases in per-order charges can generate substantial additional annualised revenue. Zomato’s main rival Swiggy has not introduced a comparable cash-on-delivery fee so far, leaving open whether it will adopt a similar pricing model.
The latest customer charge follows a period of organisational restructuring at Zomato. The company laid off around 250 employees in its latest workforce restructuring round, according to a report in August.
The job cuts followed a review of Zomato’s Customer Delight operating model and organisational requirements. As part of the restructuring, the company decided to discontinue its Customer Delight operations in Hyderabad and consolidate its remaining in-house operations at a single location in Gurgaon.
The introduction of a separate fee for cash payments adds another charge to the food-ordering bill for customers who choose not to pay digitally, while online payments remain exempt from the levy.
