'Will provide food at 40% discount with only Rs 3,000 cr loss': Harsh Goenka takes swipe on Zomato IPO

RPG Enterprises Chairman Harsh Goenka on Saturday took a swipe on the success of food ordering and delivery company Zomato's IPO, saying he is looking to start an app like Zomato or its competitor Swiggy, and will provide food at 40 per cent discount with a loss of "only" Rs 3,000 crore.

Goenka, who is very active on Twitter, said on the microblogging platform, "If you think the loss is less, I will give 60% discount. I will then list it at Rs 1 lakh cr."

The initial public offering (IPO) of Zomato was a big success, with the Rs 9,375-crore issue subscribed 38.25 times. It received bids for 2,751.25 crore equity shares against the IPO size of 71.92 crore equity shares.

Portion meant for retail investors was subscribed 7.45 times, while non-institutional investors submitted bids for 32.96 times against their reserved portion. The portion allocated for employees was subscribed 62 per cent and that of qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) subscribed 51.79 times.

While many commentators have called the successful IPO of Zomato a new phase for the Indian startup ecosystem, not everyone subscribes to this view. Many analysts have raised questions on the valuations of the company as they believe its path to profitability is not clear.

In terms of financials, Zomato is a loss-making company. It incurred loss of Rs 816.42 crore in fiscal 2021, Rs 2,385.60 crore in fiscal 2020, and Rs 1,010.51 crore in fiscal 2019.

There has been a flurry of IPOs in the Indian market recently, with many new-age companies planning to go public. While Paytm is planning its IPO this year, digital payment firm Mobikwik has also filed draft papers with SEBI for Rs 1,900-crore IPO.

Paytm had reported losses of Rs 1,704 crore in 2020-21, Rs 2,943 crore in 2019-20 and Rs 4,235 crore in 2018-19. With many of the Indian consumer tech companies running in losses, not everyone is excited about their plans of listing on stock exchanges.