Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal joined the elite club of billionaires in India after the company’s market capitalisation breached the $2 trillion mark. Zomato’s shares on Monday, July 15, hit an all-time high of Rs 232 a piece following a 4.2% surge on the National Stock Exchange. The shares opened trade at Rs 222, up from the previous close, before hitting the day’s high and driving the market capitalisation over the $2-trillion mark. 

Deepinder Goyal, an IIT Delhi graduate, co-founded Zomato in 2008 as Foodiebay, a restaurant directory, along with Pankaj Chaddah. The platform was renamed Zomato in 2010 following its initial success and went on to become a unicorn, attaining a market valuation of $1 billion in 2018-19. The same year, Pankaj Chaddah exited the company.

Mr Goyal’s realtime net worth is at $1.4 billion, up around $33 million this year, as per Forbes. With this, Mr Goyal, who owns 36.95 crore shares or a 4.24% stake in Zomato, has become India’s richest professional manager. The company went public in 2022, launching a much-talked-about initial public offer (IPO). Over the last year, Zomato shares have surged 82% since 2023 and 184%.

The rally in the shares of the food delivery aggregator is backed by a positive financial report in the last quarter of FY2024 and upbeat growth prospects for its quick commerce marketplace, Blinkit.

In May 2024, Zomato informed the exchanges that it expects Blinkit to turn profitable in March on an EBITDA basis. EBITDA stands for Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.

Zomato has planned a rapid store expansion for its quick commerce business and is aiming for 1,000 stores by March 2025.

The company reported an overall net profit of Rs 175 crore in Q4-FY24 against Rs 138 crore in the year-ago period. The revenue went up to Rs 3,562 crore with an EBITDA of Rs 86 crore during the period.

Zomat had posted Rs 3,288 crore in revenue with an EBITDA of Rs 51 in the last quarter of FY23.

Revenue from Blinkit’s business swelled to Rs 769 crore in Q4-FY24  from Rs 644 crore in the year-ago period.

Zomato Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal today praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing ample opportunities to small-town entrepreneurs like him, as the online food delivery platform, coupled with quick commerce delivery platform Blinkit, scaled new highs in the last couple of years.

In a post on X, Deepinder Goyal thanked PM Modi for his kind words. “This does certainly motivate us to work harder and do better,” the Zomato CEO posted.

Thank you for your kind words, sir. This does certainly motivate us to work harder, and do better. https://t.co/L9mQhMzymC

— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) May 22, 2024

Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister said that Mr Goyal’s journey is truly inspiring which motivates “countless youngsters to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams”.

In today’s India, one’s surname doesn’t matter. What matters is hardwork. Your journey is truly inspiring, @deepigoyal! It motivates countless youngsters to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. We are committed to providing the right environment for the startups to flourish. https://t.co/E9ccqYyVzv

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 22, 2024

Mr Goyal attended ‘Vishesh Sampark Abhiyan’ event in the national capital in presence of Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and Rajeev Chandrashekhar, along with fellow startup founders.

A small-town boy from Punjab, Deepinder Goyal also faced questions about his ability to succeed in the startup ecosystem.

“When I told my father about starting Zomato, he said, ‘Janta hai tera baap kaun hai?’ which basically meant ‘You can’t do a startup’,” Mr Goyal had recalled.

Today, Zomato has a market capitalisation of about $20 billion, with Blinkit contributing $13 billion to Zomato’s value.

In the January-March quarter of FY24, Zomato registered a profit of Rs 175 crore — from a loss of Rs 188 crore in the same period last year.

Zomato aims to reach 1,000 Blinkit stores by the end of FY25.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Amid an outcry over its announcement of a ‘pure veg’ fleet, Zomato has said all its delivery partners will continue to wear red, rolling back its decision to introduce a green uniform for those delivering food to vegetarians under the new service.

“While we are going to continue to have a fleet for vegetarians, we have decided to remove the on-ground segregation of this fleet on the ground using the colour green. All our riders – both our regular fleet, and our fleet for vegetarians, will wear the colour red,” Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal tweeted this morning.

Update on our pure veg fleet —

While we are going to continue to have a fleet for vegetarians, we have decided to remove the on-ground segregation of this fleet on the ground using the colour green. All our riders — both our regular fleet, and our fleet for vegetarians, will…

— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) March 20, 2024

Mr Goyal explained that customers who opt for the ‘pure veg’ option can see on the mobile app that their orders are being delivered by the ‘veg only’ fleet.

“This will ensure that our red uniform delivery partners are not incorrectly associated with non-veg food, and blocked by any RWAs or societies during any special days… our rider’s physical safety is of paramount importance to us,” he added.

“We now realise that even some of our customers could get into trouble with their landlords, and that would not be a nice thing if that happened because of us,” Mr Goyal said in the post.

He also thanked the social media for raising these points following the announcement of the “pure veg” service yesterday.

“You made us understand the unintended consequences of this rollout. All the love, and all the brickbats were all so useful – and helped us get to this optimal point. We are always listening, without unnecessary ego, or pride. We look forward to continue serving you,” he said.

The announcement of the “pure veg” service and the separate colour code sparked a massive row on social media yesterday, with some users calling it a form of modern-day casteism. Others had pointed out how this may lead to a ban on the entry of red-uniform delivery partners in apartment complexes where vegetarians are in a majority. This, they said, would lead to inconvenience for those ordering non-vegetarian food. Some users also pointed out that this may lead to problems for tenants ordering non-vegetarian food, particularly in the localities where it is frowned upon.

Mr Goyal had yesterday said they had decided to introduce the “pure veg” service on the basis of feedback from customers. “India has the largest percentage of vegetarians in the world, and one of the most important feedback we’ve gotten from them is that they are very particular about how their food is cooked, and how their food is handled,” he had said. He had said that for this service, Zomato will rope in restaurants serving only vegetarian food and the delivery partners in this service will not handle any non-vegetarian packets.

“But why did we need to separate the fleets? Because despite everyone’s best efforts, sometimes the food spills into the delivery boxes. In those cases, the smell of the previous order travels to the next order, and may lead to the next order smelling of the previous order. For this reason, we had to separate the fleet for veg orders,” the Zomato CEO explained. He stressed that the “pure veg” service strictly serves a dietary preference, irrespective of a person’s religion or caste. Mr Goyal had, however, said they will “roll back” the service “in a heartbeat” if there are negative social repercussions.

“We understand our social responsibility due to this change, and we will not back down from solving it when the need arises. Please note that this Pure Veg Mode, or the Pure Veg Fleet doesn’t serve or alienate any religious, or political preference,” he had said.

New Delhi:

After facing a backlash online from a section of people over the launch of the “Pure Veg Mode” service, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal on Tuesday said the food delivery platform will “roll it back in a heartbeat” in case there is a negative social repercussions.

In a long late night post on X, Mr Goyal also sought to allay concerns that Zomato’s regular fleet may be barred by some societies and RWAs.

“There’s an opinion that some societies and RWAs will now not let our regular fleet in. We will stay alert for any such cases and work with these RWAs to not let this happen.

“We understand our social responsibility due to this change, and we will not back down from solving it when the need arises,” he said.

“Please note that this Pure Veg Mode, or the Pure Veg Fleet doesn’t serve or alienate any religious, or political preference,” he clarified.

Mr Goyal elaborated upon the reason behind introduction of the company’s “Pure Veg Mode” service.

“But why did we need to separate the fleets? Because despite everyone’s best efforts, sometimes the food spills into the delivery boxes. In those cases, the smell of the previous order travels to the next order, and may lead to the next order smelling of the previous order. For this reason, we had to separate the fleet for veg orders,” the Zomato CEO said.

He emphasised that the new service strictly serves a dietary preference irrespective of a person’s religion or caste and delivery partners’ participation in the new fleet will not be decided on their dietary preferences.

“I would like to repeat that this feature strictly serves a dietary preference. And I know there are a lot of customers who would never order food from a restaurant which serves meat, irrespective of their religion/caste,” Mr Goyal said.

He concluded the post by promising that Zomato will roll back the Pure Veg Mode service in the event of significant negative social repercussions.

“And I promise, that if we see any significant negative social repercussions of this change, we will roll it back in a heartbeat,” Mr Goyal said.

I have received an overwhelmingly positive response on this launch from so many people. A lot of comments from young people who eat non-veg food saying “now my parents can also use zomato”.

I would like to repeat that this feature strictly serves a dietary preference. And I know…

— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) March 19, 2024

The Zomato co-founder announced the launch of a “Pure Veg Mode” service on Tuesday to cater to customers who have a pure vegetarian dietary preference.

Mr Goyal cited feedback from vegetarian customers as the reason behind the launch and said that the online food delivery platform is also introducing a “Pure Veg Fleet” in India for customers who follow a 100 per cent vegetarian diet.

“India has the largest percentage of vegetarians in the world, and one of the most important feedback we’ve gotten from them is that they are very particular about how their food is cooked, and how their food is handled,” Mr Goyal said in a series of posts on X.

“To solve for (sic) their dietary preferences, we are today, launching a ‘Pure Veg Mode’ along with a ‘Pure Veg Fleet’ on Zomato, for customers who have a 100% vegetarian dietary preference,” he said.

He said that for the ‘Pure Veg Mode’ the company will rope in select restaurants serving exclusively vegetarian food, and exclude any establishments offering non-vegetarian items.

The Pure Veg Fleet will use green delivery boxes instead of the standard red ones, he said.

Mr Goyal said that these delivery persons will exclusively deliver orders from pure vegetarian restaurants and won’t handle any non-vegetarian meals.

Additionally, they won’t enter non-vegetarian restaurants while carrying the green delivery box.

“Our dedicated Pure Veg Fleet will only serve orders from these pure veg restaurants. This means that a non-veg meal, or even a veg meal served by a non-veg restaurant will never go inside the green delivery box meant for our Pure Veg Fleet,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)