Swiggy uses platform fee hike to offset rising delivery discounts, competition

Swiggy has increased its platform fee to offset the impact of growing discounts and rising competition in India’s food delivery sector, the company revealed while announcing its Q2FY26 results on October 30.

The Bengaluru-based food delivery giant said competitive pressure has intensified with Rapido’s entry into the market, offering lower-cost delivery options. Both Swiggy and Zomato, along with emerging players like Rapido, are “striving to carve out space in what remains a thin-margin, operations-heavy and high-visibility business,” the company’s management explained, as per a report by Moneycontrol.

To retain users, Swiggy said it adjusted its Swiggy One subscription programme in a “targeted” manner to prevent short-term loss of customers and orders. However, the resulting increase in subsidised deliveries under Swiggy One was balanced by a hike in the platform fee, allowing the company to protect margins.

In recent months, Swiggy and Zomato have both raised their platform fees, a flat charge added to each order alongside taxes, delivery and restaurant fees. The charge varies by city, demand level and time of day. In September, Swiggy raised its platform fee to ₹15 per order — its steepest increase to date — after briefly hiking it to ₹14 during Independence Day before reverting to ₹12.

The move aligns with Zomato’s own increase to ₹12 per order ahead of the festival season, as both platforms seek to boost profitability while managing surging festive demand.

At Swiggy’s current order volume of over 2 million deliveries per day, the ₹15 fee could generate up to ₹3 crore in daily revenue, compared to around ₹2.4 crore when the charge stood at ₹12 — an incremental ₹54 crore per quarter and about ₹216 crore annually if maintained.

Swiggy has also been experimenting with affordable delivery formats, including its Toing offering and the ₹99 store, to appeal to value-conscious consumers amid rising competition.

The company reported that its take rates (commissions) rose 10 basis points quarter-on-quarter to 25.8%, primarily driven by growth in advertising revenue. Swiggy continued to perform within its guided growth range of 17–20%, with its gross order value (GOV) climbing to a record ₹8,542 crore in Q2FY26, up from ₹7,191 crore in the same quarter last year.