Zepto co-founder and CEO Aadit Palicha has accused the chief financial officer of a rival company of orchestrating a systematic “smear campaign” against the startup, in a rare public outburst in India’s competitive quick commerce sector. Palicha, however, did not name the CFO or the rival company.
In a LinkedIn post on Sunday, he claimed that the rival CFO had been “calling our investors to make wild allegations about us with no empirical evidence, giving out false numbers/Excel sheets on Zepto through sources known to journalists, and paying bots on social media to spread a negative narrative.”
The allegation comes amid heightened competition among quick commerce players such as Blinkit owned by Zomato, Swiggy Instamart, Flipkart Minutes, and BigBasket. Zepto positions itself as the second-largest player ahead of Swiggy Instamart but behind market leader Blinkit.
In response to what he termed below-par conduct of the rival executive, Palicha shared detailed financial metrics to counter any potential misinformation. “This episode is below the stature expected of the CFO of a high-quality company, and makes it obvious that they are starting to get nervous about how fast Zepto’s Ebitda is improving,” Palicha wrote.
The disclosures paint a picture of a company experiencing rapid growth while moving towards profitability: gross order value (GOV) surged from approximately Rs 750 crore per month in May 2024 to Rs 2,400 crore per month in May 2025, representing 220% year-on-year growth. Ebitda improved by 20 percentage points from January to May 2025, approaching single-digit territory, while cash burn reduced by approximately 65% over the same period, the post added.
Despite the profitability focus, the company maintained 20% GOV growth from January to May 2025, averaging 4-5% month-on-month growth, he claimed. He clarified that Zepto’s GOV includes fruits and vegetables at selling price plus advertising revenue, differing from some competitors who exclude ad revenue.
This metric controversy has been ongoing. Listed-peers Zomato and Swiggy have cited the lack of clarity on reporting metrics used by unlisted competitors as creating difficulties in drawing direct comparisons.
Both companies recently started reporting net order value (NOV), which is GOV minus ad revenue, to provide greater transparency about actual revenue earned from the consumer’s wallet. Unlisted Zepto continues to report only GOV.
Palicha went on to add that the company expects most dark stores to turn Ebitda positive by next quarter, including all operational costs, with company-wide Ebitda and operating cash flow projected near break-even. Palicha emphasised Zepto is “ramping up store launches” rather than planning “large-scale rationalisation”.
Palicha also reiterated that the company is well capitalised with net cash of Rs 7,445 crore in the bank. “With our current cash burn trajectory, we have many years of runway,” he added.
The quick commerce sector has reached $6-7 billion in market size, accounting for over two-thirds of e-retail orders. However, this growth has come at a substantial cost. Industry insiders suggest top three players — Blinkit, Instamart, and Zepto — collectively burn Rs 1,300-1,500 crore monthly. Last year, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal had claimed that the industry burnt Rs 5,000 crore quarterly, with Zepto accounting for “substantially more than half” of it.
Palicha concluded his post with a warning: “I’m okay with healthy competitive talk, but lies are not acceptable. These calls are only making it clearer to the investor community that we are a strong competitor.”