Business
Cloud reduces turnaround time essential for dynamic business like ours: Zomato CTO

As the quick-commerce growth story takes shape in India, Zomato, which just acquired Blinkit for about $568 million, feels that quick commerce is a natural extension of its food delivery business.
India’s quick commerce market is all set to witness 15 times growth by 2025, reaching a market size of nearly $5.5 billion, according to reports.
The total addressable market for quick commerce in India stands at $45 billion, and urban areas are driving this market on the back of mid-high-income households.
Gunjan Patidar, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Zomato, told IANS that when it comes to online ordering, faster turnaround time leads to a better customer experience and improves customer retention and here, a flexible and scalable Cloud reduces the overall turnaround time, which is essential for a dynamic business like theirs.
Here are the excerpts from the interview:
Q: There has been a mixed reaction to Zomato’s newly announced 10-minute delivery model. What is the strategic thinking behind this? Also, tell us more about the underlying technology that will make this possible.
A: We have witnessed that a faster turnaround time leads to a better customer experience and improves customer retention. It’s simple, you order food when you’re hungry, so it makes much more sense to get it as quickly as possible.
The underlying technology that enables us to deliver within 10-minutes is more or less what we already do in online ordering. The real game-changer is the process at the back. Time optimisation happens at our finishing stations through both technology and operational speed. Please note that no time optimisation occurs on the road, and the delivery partners aren’t informed of whether it is a 10-minute or 30-minute delivery.
Further, no incentive is provided for timely deliveries, and neither are the delivery partners penalised for late deliveries.
Q: The recent ‘pure tech’ IPOs have failed to impress public market investors. Even globally, high growth US tech stocks are stumbling (e.g. DoorDash). What are the secular tailwinds, key upcoming business initiatives etc. which should keep us upbeat about Zomato’s growth prospects?
A: As an organisation, we focus more on long-term initiatives than worrying about what’s the current sentiment. Even during the most critical of times, more than half of our engineers are working on projects that will change the course of Zomato in upcoming years. Coming to the current situation, we feel it’s more like a global phenomenon rather than something particular to Zomato or other tech companies. It’s a market sentiment and part of a regular business cycle. It’s not the first time and won’t be the last. Every time this happens, the market takes some time to correct itself, and things eventually fall back in place.
Our long-term initiatives are customer-centric, wherein we are currently focusing on Hyperpure growth, and deeper penetration in the cities we already operate in, to name some.
Q: How are you managing to attract and retain top talent?
A: While hiring and retaining the best engineers is still challenging, Zomato has always found the right pool. One of the reasons why we’re able to do this is because we focus more on vision than skills. While skills are essential, what distinguishes great engineers from the good is how aligned they are with the organisation’s vision. And it’s something that we gauge when we are hiring for our engineering and product teams. Our idea is to get onboard the candidates who feel connected with Zomato’s mission and vision. These people are excited to change the food industry for the better, want to play a pivotal role in where we are heading, and are keen to build something that will make people’s lives easier and better.
We also highly emphasise on-the-job learning wherein they can always learn new skills that not only help in doing the current job better but also prepare them for the future. While these things help get the right kinds of people, the culture makes people stay. Getting to work on various projects at once (be it dining or food delivery or Hyperpure) or working in an open environment empowers people in many ways. For Zomans, it’s more about qualitative growth than quantitative one.
Q: How are you using AI/ML, data analytics etc. to serve the customer better?
A: Food delivery is a high-frequency business wherein we are constantly working with multi-layered problems, for example, predicting food preparation time or estimated time of arrival. Another is balancing the demand and supply of delivery partners, especially during monsoons or festivals. Since the supply of delivery partners can be unpredictable, it becomes one of the crucial problems for our data science team. Besides these, we use machine learning to personalise our customer experiences to improve their overall experience.
For example, predicting what customers may like based on their order history or which restaurants we should recommend on the homepage or how items can be prioritised on the search page is done via data science teams.
Q: Tell us about your journey on the cloud? What has cloud technology allowed you to do that you couldn’t do before?
A: We have been using cloud technology for a long time. We started this in 2014 when we first hosted our data on Amazon Web Services (AWS). It reduces the overall turnaround time, which is essential for a dynamic business like ours.
For instance, traffic may be very different at one hour of the day from the other or during special occasions like New Year’s Eve or monsoon. All these patterns are significantly different from each other, and having a cloud enables us to be flexible and optimize basis the need. It also helps in saving a tremendous cost as we don’t have to use the peak capacity every time. We can reduce it during nighttime when there are fewer orders and scale up when the demand is high.
Q: What are the qualities that make you stay ahead of the curve as a CTO?
A: One of the founding principles is to stay connected to the technical landscape, say what the different kinds of tools and technologies teams use across departments. Then, one is being aware of the pain points and arranging or offering solutions to the team faster. One should also stay ahead of the current ecosystem. One should be mindful of conversations in the market, how work cultures are evolving, what tools are being used that enhance efficiency, and what new tech innovations are happening across the globe.
You also must be on top of the organisation’s pulse at any time, what different teams are working upon, the kind of developments they have made in the last few months and the upcoming projects. We keep doing regular catch-ups or organising group events like team lunches, showcases, and off-sites to build better team morale, management and coordination.
International
Trump signs proclamation banning travel from 12 nations

Washington, June 5: US President Donald Trump has signed a proclamation imposing a travel ban on 12 countries and restricting the entry of seven others to the US, citing national security concerns.
According to the proclamation, the 12 countries that were banned include Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
Additionally, the order partially restricts and limits the entry of nationals of the following seven countries — Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
The announcement of the ban followed a recent violent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, on participants of a peaceful rally calling for the safe return of Israeli hostages from Hamas captivity.
“The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas. We don’t want them,” Trump said in a video statement released by the White House on Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, US Homeland Security officials said that the terror attack perpetrator in Colorado, Mohammed Sabry Solima, was allowed entry into the country under the former Biden Administration and overstayed his visa.
The White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson took to social media stating that President Trump is protecting Americans from foreign actors who pose security threats to the country.
“President Trump is fulfilling his promise to protect Americans from dangerous foreign actors that want to come to our country and cause us harm. These commonsense restrictions are country-specific and include places that lack proper vetting, exhibit high visa overstay rates, or fail to share identity and threat information. President Trump will always act in the best of interest of the American people and their safety,” Abigail Jackson said on X.
The recent proclamation echoed a series of travel bans issued during the first term of Trump’s administration to seven majority-Muslim nations from coming to the US.
It included Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. The move witnessed legal challenges before President Joe Biden repealed it after he assumed office in 2021.
Crime
NIA raids multiple locations in Kashmir in terror funding-conspiracy case

Srinagar, June 5: Sleuths of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday carried out raids at multiple locations in Kashmir Valley as officials said these raids are part of an ongoing investigation into a terror funding and conspiracy case.
Assisted by police and the CRPF, NIA sleuths raided many locations in the Reban area of Shopian district, Nildoora and Chak-e-Choland in Kulgam district; Manzgam, Devsar, Sonigam and Bugam in Pulwama district; Sopore in Baramulla district and Kupwara district.
Reports said the NIA raids are going on at 32 locations in Jammu and Kashmir.
NIA sources said a statement would be issued by the agency after the conclusion of the day’s operations by its sleuths.
By the time this report was filed, there was no information available regarding any arrests or recoveries.
More details are awaited.
Sources said the searches were being conducted in a terror conspiracy case against overground workers (OGWs) of various terrorist organisations.
All high-profile crimes, including some dastardly terror attacks in the union territory, are being investigated by the NIA. The April 22 terror attack carried out by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit in Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam is also being investigated by the NIA.
Terrorists killed 26 civilians, including one Naeplai national, after segregating them on the basis of religion in Baisaran. The innocent victims of terrorists included 25 tourists and a local pony owner who sacrificed his life while trying to save the tourists. All the victims, except one, were Hindus.
NIA is also investigating the Reasi terror attack carried out by terrorists on June 9, 2024, on a bus carrying pilgrims. Nine pilgrims were killed and 33 others, including women and children. They were killed when terrorists attacked a bus carrying pilgrims to Katra from the Shiv Khori temple.
The NIA arrested and investigated cases against JKLF chief, Yasin Malik, senior separatist leaders, Shabir Shah, Nayeem Khan and MP Engineer Rashid.
National
Drama of discontent in Mahayuti govt due to greed for power: Uddhav Thackeray’s Saamana

Mumbai, June 5: Shiv Sena(UBT) on Thursday claimed that a strong discontent was brewing in the grand alliance (Mahayuti) government of Maharashtra, and the people were getting “free entertainment” from the inner fight.
Thackeray camp in the party’s mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ editorial said, “No matter which party the government belongs to, those who are dissatisfied in the government have no party. The Mindhe Mandal (Shinde camp) was dissatisfied with Uddhav Thackeray’s government, and now their dissatisfaction continues with the Fadnavis government as well. The root of the disease of dissatisfaction lies in power, greed for position, money, ego and political ambition. There is no cure for this disease of dissatisfaction. Once it takes root, it grows stronger. Let us hope that the dissatisfaction drama in the three parties that is going on in the Fadnavis government should not lead to gang wars from breaking out within the cabinet in the future.”
“The Mindhe group (Shinde camp) in the cabinet is unhappy with Finance Minister Ajit Pawar. Money or ‘funds’ is said to be the main reason for the discontent. In other words, the old disease has once again revived. The same discontent and complaint of the Mindhe group (Shinde camp) were present while breaking the Shiv Sena and toppling the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. It continues. The same root cause of discontent has again bedevilled the ministers of Mindhe. At that time, the people of Mindhe had considered Ajit Pawar a ‘villain’ while being dishonest with the original Shiv Sena,” the editorial said..
“However, instead of going to jail, Ajit Pawar followed in Mindhya’s footsteps, entered the government and became the Finance Minister. Ultimately, all ministries have to look at and depend on the finance ministry for the allocation and release of funds. In a nutshell, many people’s lives were ruined because Ajitdada controls the funds of the government,” claimed the Thackeray camp.
“After the cabinet meeting held last Tuesday, the displeasure of the ministers, who were upset over the lack of funds, erupted. Thereafter, the Mindhe group ministers met and complained against Ajitdada for not releasing funds to their respective departments. They expressed their discontent against Ajitdada in front of their leader, Mindhe (Eknath Shinde). ‘Finance Minister Ajitdada is sabotaging the development works of our department. If the finance department and the finance minister will not give us money, how will we do development works?” asked the disgruntled ministers from the Shinde camp. It is said that Ajitdada was the sole target during the meeting,” said the editorial.
“In the same meeting held last week, Deputy Chief Minister Shinde independently reviewed the functioning of the departments held by the Mindhe group and individually discussed with the concerned ministers to know the present status. The agitated ministers raised a slew of questions, such as how the work will be done for want of funds. If the work is not done, how will we face the elections and what answers will we give to the people?” said the editorial.
Since the nature of the complaint and ‘target’ were the same, Dy CM Shinde attempted to pacify them, assuring that he would find a way out by talking to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Dy CM Ajitdada Pawar.
“In fact, in the Mahayuti government, the Mindhe (Eknath Shinde) himself is being beaten with sticks, and there is no way to bombard this disgruntlement again. So, he was upset and had to go to the native village in Satara and count the strawberries in the fields. As Mindhe (Eknath Shinde) had found a solution to overcome disgruntlement by going to the native village, it is difficult to guess whether he has suggested a similar solution to the disgruntled ministers from his camp,” said the editorial. However, at the end of the day, the people of Maharashtra have to bear the discontent among the ruling partners.
Furthermore, the Thackeray camp claimed that it was not just the Shinde camp but the BJP legislators who met Home Minister Amit Shah and lodged a complaint against Finance Minister Ajitdada Pawar.
“Amit Shah gave his party legislators the ideal mantra of the double engine government, ‘Keep doing work and follow up with Ajitdada so much that he himself should come to me with a complaint’. This is such an interesting drama going on in the grand alliance government in Maharashtra. If Ajit Pawar is bringing the BJP, which has 132 MLAs, and the Mindhe Party formed by Amit Shah to the table, then only Ajit Pawar is happy in this government, and this is a great skill of Ajitdada,” the editorial said.
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