Zepto has officially registered its updated red herring draft offering prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India for a fresh issuance in its planned initial public offering to raise funds of ₹8,010 crore. This is an important regulatory disclosure that has shed light on the company’s latest consolidated financial statements.
The records, as disclosed, show that Zepto successfully more than doubled its revenue from operations in fiscal 2026. In FY26, the startup’s operating revenue reached a remarkable ₹22,624 crore, a significant rise from the ₹11,110 crore in FY25. This high-dollar drive for top-line growth cost the company, with its annual losses increasing by 26% to stand at ₹5,905 crore.
Primary driver and advertising revenues
During the first ten minutes, Zepto has scaled its logistics systems to help deliver over 46,600 products across different categories of products in these ten minutes. By March 2026, the fast food delivery company had a network of more than 1,139 dark stores nationwide and delivered over 1.75 million orders daily to customers.
Its core business is the direct sale of products, accounting for about 78% of the total operating revenue. The key product sales category increased by 92% to reach ₹17,588 crore during the fiscal year 2026, from a fiscal year 2025 of ₹9,145 crore.
In addition to product sales, the company also saw dramatic growth in its ancillary channels. Revenue from warehousing, packaging, and last-mile delivery services was double. The revenue reached ₹2,780 crore.
Advertising revenue rose 2.5 times and reached ₹1,636 crore. The platform services added another ₹564 crore. Including ₹505 crore in non-operating interest earned from fixed deposits, Zepto’s total income reached ₹23,128 crore during the fiscal year.
Operational maintenance and financial health
The Aadit Palicha-led enterprise witnessed an enormous escalation of its cost components in order to support this pace of growth. The largest expense for the platform was related to buying manufacturing, which made up a massively high 63% of the company’s total costs.
The procurement of products increased by 90% from ₹9,542 crore during the fiscal year 2025 to ₹18,199 crore during the fiscal year 2026. Expense on employee benefits trended upwards by 44% to reach a total of ₹1,785 crore.
Among this workforce, ₹557 crore was allocated for non-cash costs associated with employee stock ownership plans, and ₹192 crore was tied directly to staff working within the warehouses or dark stores. Logistics and distribution costs surged more than 90% to ₹3,046 crore.
The operational maintenance of 1,139 dark stores pushed the cost of the company to ₹2,150 crore, and advertising and promotional expenditures increased to ₹1,389 crore, as the company continued to heavily invest in new customer acquisition. With software costs increasing by 31% to ₹300 crore and other expenses, including franchise, power, fuel, legal, and others, rising, Zepto’s expenditure stood at ₹29,027 crore at the end of the year, which is up 79%.
In fiscal year 2026, Zepto reported annual losses of ₹5,905 crore compared with ₹4,700 crore in fiscal year 2025, due to costly warehousing, delivery network, and aggressive growth. Return on capital employed reached a negative rate of 74.8%, while the annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization margin was negative 23.18%.
However, better cost efficiency was achieved as the cost-to-earnings ratio planted at end-of-year stood at ₹1.28. As of the end of fiscal year 2026, the company’s current assets amounted to ₹9,638 crore, including cash and bank balances of ₹973 crore.
Similarly, Zepto’s chief competitors in the broader market reported very strong growth during the same period. Blinkit outpaced the market with an impressive revenue of ₹37,779 crore and simultaneously achieved positive EBITDA or profit before the company pays any tax of ₹430 crore. Swiggy Instamart posted a revenue of ₹3,859 crore while its losses rose to a ₹3,063 crore on the EBITDA front.
Conclusion
With its revenue doubling to a massive ₹22,600 crore and an ability to process over 1.75 lakh orders through its platform daily, Zepto has given clear indications of the huge demand for quick commerce services in India. The growing losses of ₹5,905 crore highlight the massive financial burden that comes from having an elaborate 10-minute delivery network.
As the company files its updated draft red herring prospectus to launch a massive ₹8,010 crore initial public offering, its future success will heavily depend on balancing this rapid top-line growth with long-term cost sustainability, especially as it battles well-funded rivals like Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart in a highly competitive retail space.
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