LOST CITIES

Zomato withdraws from 225 non-performing cities as it streamlines its operations to achieve long-term profitability

- BINU PAUL

CITING POOR PERFORMANCE, food delivery platform Zomato recently withdrew from 225 smaller cities as they contributed only 0.3 per cent to the company's gross order value (GOV) in Q3FY23. The slowdown was more pronounced in the top eight cities that drive a majority of the demand on the platform.

"The company did not feel the payback period on its investments in these cities was acceptable," Zomato CFO Akshant Goyal told shareholders in a letter.

In the December 2022 quarter, Zomato's adjusted revenue for food delivery saw a 1 per cent de-growth to ₹1,565 crore from ₹1,581 crore in the previous quarter. Even though GOV grew just 0.7 per cent, the number of orders declined sequentially.