India’s fast commerce turf battle simply turned private.
Zepto cofounder Aadit Palicha has publicly accused the chief monetary officer of a rival firm of operating a coordinated smear marketing campaign to discredit the fast-growing startup. In a no-holds-barred LinkedIn put up, Palicha alleged that the rival CFO has been circulating false knowledge to buyers, journalists, and on social media—with the assistance of proxy sources and even paid bots.
“This episode is under the stature anticipated of the CFO of a high-quality firm,” Palicha wrote, claiming the assault displays nervousness over Zepto’s enhancing financials. “They’re getting rattled by how briskly our EBITDA is enhancing.”
In response to Palicha, the CFO in query has been sharing “wild allegations” unsupported by details and going so far as distributing doctored Excel sheets to members of the media. Zepto, he stated, selected to go public now as a “preemptive” step in case deceptive tales start to flow into.
The startup backed its protection with contemporary efficiency knowledge: month-to-month gross order worth (GOV) has surged from ₹750 crore in Might 2024 to ₹2,400 crore in Might 2025.
EBITDA has improved by 2,000 foundation factors in simply 5 months, and the corporate’s money burn has dropped by 65% over the identical interval. Zepto claims constant 4–5% month-on-month development, including as much as a 20% leap in GOV since January.
A majority of its darkish shops are anticipated to be EBITDA-positive by the following quarter, and on the firm degree, each EBITDA and working money movement are stated to be close to breakeven. Zepto additionally claimed to have ₹7,445 crore in web money—absolutely reconciled with financial institution statements—giving it what Palicha described as “a few years of runway.”
Countering hypothesis about retailer closures, Palicha insisted that Zepto will not be present process any large-scale rationalisation and is in actual fact ramping up the launch of recent darkish shops. He additionally used the second to underscore the startup’s governance requirements, pointing to best-in-class fee methods, vendor audits, bodily asset verification, and a clear report in statutory audits performed by Huge 4 corporations. Previous diligence workout routines, he stated, discovered no materials irregularities.
Whereas Palicha didn’t title the rival CFO or firm, the allegations come at a time when competitors in India’s fast commerce sector is intensifying. Zepto is locked in a battle with Blinkit (owned by Zomato), Swiggy Instamart, and Flipkart Minutes in a section that has grown greater than fivefold since 2022. A March 2025 report by Bain & Firm and Flipkart pegged the market dimension at $6–7 billion, accounting for over two-thirds of all e-retail orders final yr.
However the growth has come at a steep price. As of early 2025, Blinkit, Instamart, and Zepto had been collectively burning ₹1,300–1,500 crore per 30 days, with Zepto accounting for the most important chunk, in line with The Financial Instances.
