Swiggy reports loss of Rs 2,345 Cr on a revenue of Rs 1,122 Cr in FY19
While expenses for the food delivery unicorn rose by 4.3X, the company reported that it was affected by the IL&FS crisis that shook the Indian financial market last year.
Bengaluru-based food delivery startup, Swiggy reported that its loss widened six-fold to Rs 2,345 crore in the financial year 2019, compared to a loss of Rs 385 crore incurred in the previous financial year.
Founders of Swiggy (L-R - Nandan Reddy, Rahul Jaimini and Sriharsha Majety)
![[The Turning Point] From logistics to food delivery, how Swiggy found its sweetspot](https://images.yourstory.com/cs/wordpress/2017/11/L-R-Nandan-Reddy-Rahul-JaiminiSriharsha-Majety.jpg?fm=png&auto=format&h=100&w=100&crop=entropy&fit=crop)
The foodtech startup also reported Rs 1,122 crore in revenue from operations in FY19, a growth of 2.7X from Rs 417 crore in the year-ago period.
The development comes amid reports of Uber having advanced talks with Zomato to sell its UberEat's India business to the foodtech unicorn, thus having the potential to change the dynamics in the overall online food delivery industry in India.
The company also saw increased total expenses at Rs 3,637 crore in FY19, as compared to Rs 841 crore in FY18. The Naspers-backed unicorn witnessed its delivery cost expenses to be at Rs 1,584 crore, advertising promotional expenses at Rs 776 crore, and employee benefit expenses at Rs 537 crore for the same financial year.
Founded in 2014, Swiggy has been expanding its presence across the country to keep up with the intense completion in the food delivery sector, which has players like FreshMenu, Zomato, and UberEats.
While “other income” for the startup increased to Rs 170 crore in FY19 from Rs 39.5 crore in FY18, Bundl Technologies Pvt Ltd, the parent firm of Swiggy reported that it has provided about Rs 59.8 crore due to the IL&FS crisis that shook the markets in September last year.
A document filed with RoC said, “The Company, as part of its treasury operations, invested in commercial papers aggregating to Rs 598 million, with 'Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited and its subsidiary' (IL&FS Group), which were due for maturity on February 15, 2019, amounting to Rs 369 million and July 11, 2019, amounting to Rs 229 million. The aforesaid amount and interest thereon has not been received as on date. As a result of increased credit risk in relation to outstanding balance from IL&FS Group and the uncertainty prevailing on IL&FS Group due to the proceedings pending with the NCLT, the management has provided for full amount Rs 598 million for impairment in the value of commercial papers for the year ended March 31, 2019. The provision currently reflects the exposure that may arise given the uncertainty. The company, however, continues to monitor development in this matter and is committed to taking steps, including legal actions that may be necessary to ensure the full recoverability”.
Swiggy has a presence in more than 500 cities and towns. About 140,000 restaurants are on its platform and have about 2.1 lakh active delivery partners. It also plans to expand to another 100 cities in the next year.
(Edited by Suman Singh)
