Swiggy's FY23 operational revenue rises 44%; loss widens to Rs 4,179 Cr
Swiggy completes its first profitable month in March last year, sparking mild optimism as it gears up for a public market listing.
Food and grocery delivery firm reported a 44% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 8,264.6 crore in the financial year ended March 2023—when it also marked its first-ever profitable month.
The firm's losses widened by a marginal 15% to Rs 4,179.3 crore from Rs 3,628.9 crore in the year-ago period, weighed down by rising expenditure.
Total expenses shot up 35% to Rs 12,884.4 crore in FY23 from Rs 9,574.5 crore in FY22. Employee benefit expenses—one of Swiggy's biggest cost centres—rose to Rs 2,129.8 crore from Rs 1,708.5 crore in the previous year.
The on-demand convenience platform is gearing up for a public-market listing later in the year, following the footsteps of rival which got listed on the bourses in 2021.
In March last year, Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety said that the Prosus -and Invesco-backed firm had marked its first profitable month after 14 years since its inception.
"This is a milestone for food delivery globally, not just for us, as Swiggy has become one of the very few global food delivery platforms to achieve profitability in less than nine years since its inception," Majety had written in a blog post, adding that the company now looks to gain a stronger foothold in Tier II and III markets.
Rival Zomato attained a positive bottomline in the June quarter, bringing about some much-needed cheer in the foodtech ecosystem, YourStory had reported in December.
With macroeconomic conditions growing tougher and the funding slowdown remaining persistent over the last 22 months, profitability has become a top priority for startups across sectors.
In January, YourStory had reported that Swiggy is looking to charge restaurants a collection fee of 2% on all orders to facilitate online payments from customers.
In another bid to improve unit economics, it started charging a platform fee of Rs 2-3 on all orders to customers.
In November, Prosus—one of Swiggy’s earliest and biggest backers—said in its annual report that the startup’s food delivery business grew 17%, delivering a gross merchandise value of $1.43 billion in the first six months of the year. This was led by a rise in transacting users that drove double-digit order growth and inflation in average order value, according to the Netherlands-based investor.
(The story was updated to correct a typo)
Edited by Kanishk Singh