Swiggy's parent firm reports Rs 2,363 crore loss in FY19

Food delivery platform Swiggy's parent firm Bundl Technologies has reported a six-fold rise in losses at Rs 2,363 crore for the financial year-ended March 2019, compared to Rs 397 crore in the previous financial year. The rise in loss was attributed to higher expenses which jumped four-fold during FY19.

The five-year-old startup's revenue, however, grew by three-fold to Rs 1,128.3 crore in FY19 as against Rs 417 crore in the year ago period, according to the financials filed with the ministry of corporate affairs. More than 93 per cent of Swiggy's revenue came from its marketplace operations which stood at Rs 1,074.1 crore, while its private brands which operate on a delivery-only model generated revenues of Rs 67.5 crore.

Meanwhile, Swiggy's rival Zomato reported a loss of Rs 1,001 crore on revenue of Rs 1,397 crore in FY19.

"FY 18-19 has been another strong year of execution for Swiggy," the company's spokesperson said.

The foodtech unicorn said that it has recorded a 4.2 times increase in order volumes and 2.7 times increase in its operating revenues "despite a higher baseline".

Also Read: Swiggy plans to hire 3 lakh people in 18 months; aims to become third-largest employer in country

During the year under review, total expenses shot up to Rs 3,659.1 crore from Rs 841.4 crore in the same period last year. Swiggy spent Rs 1,681.2 crore on operational costs, of which food delivery costs alone stood at Rs 1,594 crore in FY19. Besides, the company spent Rs 423 crore on salaries and wages and Rs 113.4 crore on account of undelivered and cancelled orders in FY19.

"During the year, we made many strategic bets and investments in technology, brand, and supply creation that have been the drivers of category growth in Indian food delivery and will bear fruit in Swiggy's vision," the company said in a statement.

Also Read: Not only food, Swiggy will now also deliver forgotten items, documents, lunchbox, more

In FY19, Swiggy's expenses on marketing and advertising rose by 80 per cent to Rs 778 crore compared to Rs 154.85 crore in FY18. The startup firm has been investing aggressively in technology, brand and supply creation to fuel its growth and keep up with intense completion in the food delivery segment.

Currently, the South African internet and media group Naspers- backed venture has operation in over 500 cities and processes about 1.4 million orders a day. It also plans to expand into 100 more cities in the next year.

Swiggy has also been moving beyond food. In September, it launched Swiggy Go, a hyper-local service created for last-mile delivery service for anything ranging from forgotten keys, files, documents, lunch box, laundry, handmade toiletries and so on. Last year, it acquired Mumbai-based startup Supr Daily and launched Swiggy Stores, a service to deliver daily household items such as milk, bread, eggs, coconut water, among others.