Swiggy, an Indian online food ordering and delivery service, has raised its platform fees by 17% to ₹14 in some locations where there is a lot of demand. NDTV Profit spoke with sources who said that the move is an experiment and will only last for a short time, since it is meant to take advantage of the higher demand over the holiday season.
The platform price was first set at ₹2 in 2023, hence the current rise is a 600% increase. Zomato, on the other hand, has kept its platform fee at ₹10 per order.
This rise is part of a larger trend in the rapid commerce and food delivery industries, where platform or handling fees are slowly going up. Most of the big companies are currently charging between ₹9 and ₹15 for each order, which is 1–3% of the average order value. Axis Capital analysts have pointed out that these fees have been steadily rising since late 2024.
NDTV Profit spoke with analysts who said that rapid commerce companies are slowly raising these costs without noticing a big decline in the number of orders. With only a few big companies like Zomato, Swiggy, and Zepto, the same fees are becoming more common. Even simple changes, like adding ₹5 to each order, can make a big difference in sales at scale.
Companies are now focusing on boosting their margins after years of spending money to get customers. Experts think that platform fees may keep going up in the next several quarters as businesses stop offering big discounts and start using more conventional pricing methods.