Swiggy turns to student, corporate reward programmes to revive food delivery biz

Food delivery platform Swiggy has launched two rewards programmes for students and corporate professionals this month to bolster its food delivery business.

In a LinkedIn post on Monday, Swiggy food delivery CEO Rohit Kapoor announced the launch of a corporate rewards programme. "From a Swiggy One membership that gives you unlimited free deliveries for an entire quarter to getting at least Rs 125 off just for using your work email," said Kapoor.

Last week, Swiggy rolled out a student rewards programme in over 200 cities, offering benefits across dine-in, food delivery and discounts on Swiggy One and One Lite memberships.

The programme is live across 2,000 campuses and will be expanded to over 4,500 campuses by July 2025, requiring students to sign up using their college email addresses. The benefits would also apply to students living away from campuses, significantly increasing the programme's scope.

"Swiggy’s new offering is specially designed to cater to students and unlocks specially curated, exclusive perks and access to incredible offers instantly," said Deepak Maloo, Vice President, Swiggy Food Marketplace.

Among the slew of rewards and perks, Swiggy notified its One members that they would also have to pay an additional amount for their deliveries if it rained in the area. The fee was waived for loyalty members and is only applicable to non-members.

Zomato, Eternal's food delivery arm, also made a similar move by removing the rain surge fee waiver for its Gold Members.

Swiggy has been looking to aggressively promote its food delivery business. It also launched Drops—a feature offering limited, chef-curated options from select restaurants. Restaurant partners would begin by creating their exclusive recipes of dishes that are not available on a regular basis, which will be launched at a pre-disclosed time on a limited slot basis. 

These developments come as India's two biggest food delivery companies navigate slow growth. Swiggy and Zomato saw their food delivery business grow only 18% YoY in Q4 FY25, while it shrank marginally in the March quarter compared to the December quarter.

(The copy was updated to reflect information about Swiggy Drops.)