Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha alleges smear campaign by rival CFO amid quick commerce showdown
As competition heats up in India’s quick commerce sector, Zepto’s co-founder accuses a senior executive at a rival firm of orchestrating a targeted attack.
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In a rare public accusation in India’s startup ecosystem, Aadit Palicha, co-founder and CEO of Zepto, on May 25 alleged that the chief financial officer (CFO) of a rival quick commerce company is running a calculated smear campaign aimed at undermining Zepto’s brand and business.
While Palicha refrained from naming the executive or the company, his statement hinted at an intensifying rivalry in the rapidly growing quick commerce space, where Zepto competes directly with Blinkit (owned by Eternal, formerly Zomato), Swiggy Instamart, Flipkart Minutes, and Tata BigBasket.
According to Palicha, the CFO in question has been contacting Zepto’s investors to make “wild allegations,” circulating “false numbers/Excel sheets” through journalist sources, and allegedly deploying bots on social media to spread negative narratives. “This episode is below the stature expected of the CFO of a high-quality company,” Palicha stated.
The alleged smear campaign, Palicha said, may stem from growing anxiety over Zepto’s financial momentum.
He revealed that the company’s gross order value (GOV) has surged from approximately ₹750 crore per month in May 2024 to ₹2,400 crore per month as of May 2025. Zepto’s GOV includes revenue from fruits and vegetables at selling price, and ad revenue-components that some rivals exclude from their own calculations.
Palicha further disclosed that Zepto's EBITDA has improved by 2,000 basis points (20 percentage) points between January and May 2025 and is now approaching single-digit territory. "Our cash burn is down approximately 65% over that same period," he added, although specific figures were not provided. Previous reports had pegged Zepto's monthly cash burn at Rs 250 crore in late 2024.
Despite the improved EBITDA, Zepto has continued to grow, clocking a 20% increase in GOV over the same five-month period - translating to 4-5% month-on-month growth.
The CEO also asserted the company’s strong financial position, stating, “As of the beginning of this quarter, we have approximately ₹7,445 crore of net cash in the bank, fully reconciled to bank statements. With our current cash burn trajectory, we have many years of runway.”
Contrary to market speculation about rationalising operations, Palicha confirmed that Zepto is expanding store launches and remains close to 1,000 dark stores, matching the scale of Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart.
This is not the first public dispute involving Zepto. Earlier this year, Deepinder Goyal, CEO of Eternal, claimed the quick commerce industry was burning ₹5,000 crore per quarter - with Zepto allegedly contributing “substantially more than half” of that. The remark sparked debates on sustainability and financial reporting standards in the industry.
Adding to the skepticism, Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety recently questioned the comparability of GOV figures across players. While Swiggy and Blinkit now report Net Order Value (NOV) as a more accurate reflection of consumer spend, Zepto is yet to adopt this standard.
Valued at $5 billion, Zepto has emerged as the second-largest quick commerce player, trailing only Blinkit.
