Zomato has started charging customers an extra fee when they choose cash on delivery for their food orders.
The Eternal-owned platform has introduced a “Pay on delivery fee” of Rs 5, which is shown separately in the bill and applies only to cash payments. Customers who pay online do not have to pay the fee.
However, the charge appears to vary in some cases. Screenshots showed fees of Rs 7 and Rs 20, while another showed a Rs 6 charge that customers could avoid by switching to online payment.
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The charge sits apart from Zomato's existing platform fee, restaurant packaging charges and GST, all of which continue to apply regardless of payment mode.
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The move comes against the backdrop of intensifying competition in food delivery, with rivals such as Rapido's Ownly and Flipkart's newly piloted "Eat In" service expanding their footprint, and startups including Swish drawing fresh funding.
While the per-order amount is small, the scale of Zomato's business means it adds up.
Platform's daily order volume of 2.3-2.5 million to estimate that a Rs 5 charge across all orders could theoretically generate Rs 1.15-1.25 crore a day, or roughly Rs 420-456 crore annually, though this is an upper-bound figure since cash-on-delivery orders form only a fraction of total transactions.
The new fee is a broader monetisation push by food-delivery platforms. Swiggy has not introduced a comparable fee so far.
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