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Did Zomato buy Blinkit to offset its losses from online food delivery?

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Online food delivery platform Zomato, which saw its stock tumbling below its IPO price as India reopened and retail food industry came back on track, had acquired quick-commerce grocery delivery platform Blinkit for a whopping Rs 4,447 crore (about $568 million). Will this acquisition change its future prospects?

Zomato already owned more than 9 per cent stake in Blinkit (earlier Grofers). While the earlier Blinkit deal was valued around $700 million, the drop in Zomato’s share price reduced it to $568 million.

Zomato’s stock is hovering around Rs 70, after sliding to nearly Rs 50 (it opened at Rs 76 during its mega IPO last year).

According to market experts, Zomato is facing severe cash flow problems as its operational cost is running quite high.

Zomato Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal said on Friday that he is not getting into the quick commerce market because growth in food delivery is now saturating.

“Food delivery has a long runway ahead. In FY22, our Adjusted Revenue grew by 109 per cent over FY21 and we expect healthy growth to continue going forward,” he noted.

According to him, quick commerce is a natural extension of Zomato’s food delivery business.

“How is it a natural extension? Because it is also a hyperlocal business, just like food delivery. And, because it also caters to a need for quick delivery of products for our customers. Quick commerce will help us increase the customer wallet share spent on our platform and also drive higher frequency and engagement from our customers,” he said in a company statement.

Zomato has grown at a CAGR of 86 per cent in the last four years to an adjusted revenue of $710 million “while the adjusted EBITDA margin has improved from (153 per cent) in FY19 to (18 per cent) in FY22”.

The acquisition came as the quick commerce (10-minute delivery) segment is brewing with new hope as people prefer groceries and other home essentials at their doorsteps within no time after making an online order.

Startups like Swiggy Instamart, Zepto and Reliance-backed Dunzo, among others, are trying to defy the current slowdown, as they add more goods and daily essentials to their kitty and deliver them to their customers.

In December 2021, Swiggy announced to pour $700 million into Instamart.

Last month, 10-minute delivery platform Zepto raised $200 million, taking its valuation to around $900 million.

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 Bengaluru-based market research firm RedSeer.

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.

According to Akshant Goyal, Chief Financial Officer, Zomato, their food business is trending towards profitability faster than what they hadAthought at the time of the IPO last year.

“The timeframe for overall Zomato profitability does not change in our minds. In fact, we believe we will now get to profitability within the same timelines (as we thought last year) but with a much larger addressable market. We are also not envisaging any furtherAcapital raise to get to profitability in this timeframe,” he said.

Goyal said that as a food company, “we are already tapping into the large food delivery opportunity in India”.

“Customers (and data) are clearly signalling the macro trend that people are moving to unplanned and spontaneous purchases. To add to this, monthly order frequency on Blinkit app was 3.5x in May 2022, which is higher than that of food delivery on Zomato,” informed Goyal.

Blinkit’s gross order value (GOV) is fast catching up with Zomato’s GOV in some key markets, therefore indicating that quick commerce will add a significant new addressable market to our business in the long term.

“In a sample market like Gurugram, Blinkit GOV is already 63 per cent of Zomato’s food delivery GOV,” Goyal added.

Quick commerce naturally extends across multiple categories including beauty and personal care, electronics, OTC pharma, stationery and other gift items, among others.

The company said it will keep the Blinkit app and brand separate from Zomato.

“We will explore ways in which Blinkit can benefit from Zomato’s large customer base (and vice versa in the long term). Post the deal closure, we are going to start experimenting with various ideas that we have and see which all bear fruit, including having the Blinkit tab on the Zomato app,” the company said.

Business

Swiggy’s Q2 net loss widens sequentially to Rs 922 crore

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Food delivery and quick-commerce platform Swiggy on Thursday reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 922 crore for the quarter ended September 2026 (Q2 FY27), compared with a loss of Rs 791 crore in the preceding quarter (Q1 FY27).

However, the company’s losses narrowed from Rs 1,092 crore recorded in the corresponding period last financial year (Q2 FY26), according to its stock exchange filing.

Revenue from operations increased 36.1 per cent year-on-year to Rs 7,571 crore from Rs 5,620 crore, driven by growth across food delivery, quick commerce and out-of-home consumption segments.

Despite the robust revenue growth, total expenses climbed to Rs 8,703 crore from Rs 6,711 crore a year ago, as per its regulatory filing.

Swiggy’s core food delivery business continued to strengthen profitability during the quarter. Gross order value (GOV) for the segment rose 17.7 per cent year-on-year to Rs 10,054 crore, while adjusted EBITDA improved by Rs 101 crore to Rs 341 crore.

The adjusted EBITDA margin stood at 3.4 per cent of GOV, marking the business’s highest-ever profitability and margin performance.

The company’s out-of-home consumption business also maintained momentum, with GOV growing 34.9 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,508 crore.

The segment reported its seventh consecutive quarter of profitability, delivering an adjusted EBITDA margin of 0.5 per cent of GOV.

Meanwhile, quick-commerce arm Instamart continued its expansion push. Net order value (NOV) rose 31.4 per cent year-on-year and 13.4 per cent sequentially to Rs 6,954 crore.

During the quarter, Instamart added 69 dark stores, taking its total network to 1,240 stores nationwide. However, the aggressive expansion continued to weigh on profitability. Instamart reported a loss of Rs 895 crore for the quarter.

Its contribution margin improved by 157 basis points year-on-year to minus 1 per cent of GOV, though it declined by 82 basis points on a sequential basis.

The segment’s adjusted EBITDA margin improved marginally to minus 9.7 per cent from minus 9.8 per cent in the previous quarter.

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Adani Energy Solutions profit more than doubles to Rs 1,364 crore in Q2, revenue rises 51 pc

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Adani Energy Solutions Ltd (AESL) on Thursday reported a 145 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,364 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, delivering record performance.

According to the company’s exchange filing, total income rose 51 per cent to Rs 10,239 crore in Q2 FY27 from Rs 6,767 crore in Q2 FY26.

Meanwhile, operational revenue grew 51 per cent to Rs 7,167 crore driven by healthy contribution from the transmission and energy solutions platform.

In Q2FY27, EBITDA stood at Rs 3,548 crore, an increase of 67 per cent year-on-year, while operating EBITDA rose 68 per cent to Rs 3,070 crore. This is an all-time high quarterly EBITDA for the company.

In addition, consolidated PAT jumped 137 per cent to Rs 2,600 crore for H1 FY27, while total income rose 46 per cent to Rs 20,092 crore.

Commenting on the earnings, Adani Energy Solutions CEO Kandarp Patel said, “AESL closed the first half of the fiscal year with strong financial and operational momentum, laying a robust foundation for future growth. We significantly expanded our growth pipeline by winning the strategic Vizag and Satara transmission assets, elevating our active order book to around Rs 87,000 crore.”

He said operationally, the Mumbai distribution business grew by about 11 per cent in units sold, while the smart metering platform scaled its installation base to approximately 15 million meters.

“A significant 2.5 GW RTC power supply contract with MSEDCL reinforced AESL’s core competencies in multi-source energy aggregation and power supply optimisation for customers,” Patel said.

“Backed by robust quarter-on-quarter performance across all business segments and strict financial prudence, we are well-positioned to convert this massive project pipeline into long-term stakeholder value,” he added.

Segment-wise, the company’s transmission operating revenue rose 17 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,521 crore in Q2, while distribution (AEML and MUL) revenue grew 2 per cent to Rs 3,181 crore.

Smart metering operating revenue (Ind AS) surged 129 per cent to Rs 267 crore and energy solutions revenue stood at Rs 2,197 crore.

Shares of Adani Energy Solutions ended at Rs 1,293 on the BSE. The Adani Group stock has recorded a 52-week high of Rs 1,789 and a 52-week low of Rs 804.70, according to the exchange data.

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Business

Sensex, Nifty open lower as Asian markets tumble, crude oil climbs

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Indian equity benchmarks opened lower on Thursday tracking weak Asian markets and concerns over elevated crude oil prices and high US bond yields.

Sensex opened 366.36 points or 0.50 per cent lower at 73,343.33, while Nifty began the trading session at 22,687.75, declining 123.60 points or 0.54 per cent.

Sector-wise, most indices traded in the red with auto, metal and healthcare shares leading losses in early trade.

Nifty Auto, Nifty Metal and Nifty Healthcare declined up to 0.98 per cent. Meanwhile, Nifty Pharma also slipped 0.78 per cent.

Broader weakness was also visible across FMCG, realty, cement and financial stocks.

Analysts said the recent trend of large-cap stocks outperforming mid and small caps appears to be gathering momentum as valuation concerns emerge in the broader market.

“The broader market resilience in recent months has been more a function of liquidity than earnings. This has created a paradox of overvalued mid and small caps coexisting with attractively valued large-caps. This trend is now getting corrected and is likely to sustain,” they said.

The eperts also pointed to external headwinds, including rising crude prices and elevated US Treasury yields which are encouraging traders to build short positions despite continued institutional buying.

“Sectoral churn towards fairly valued large caps is the ideal investment strategy now. It may take time, but this strategy will certainly be rewarded,” they added.

Technical analysts said the recent sharp decline and the breach of the 22,700 level on the Nifty raised the risk of a deeper correction.

“Recovery hopes rest on the ability of 22,590 to hold, but a move back above 22,840 will be needed to confirm renewed upside strength,” according to them.

On Wednesday, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net buyers and purchased equities worth about Rs 1,022 crore. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) also remained buyers with net purchases of around Rs 1,614 crore.

In Asian markets, major indices remained under pressure. Japan’s Nikkei, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and South Korea’s Kospi dropped up to 2 per cent in early trading.

Overnight, Wall Street ended higher led by technology shares. The Nasdaq advanced around 1 per cent after strong corporate earnings boosted sentiment around artificial intelligence-related stocks, while the S&P 500 gained 0.58 per cent.

Meanwhile, Brent crude futures rose more than 1 per cent to trade around $110 per barrel, adding to inflation concerns and weighing on investor sentiment.

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