Foodtech major Swiggy has begun charging restaurants a 2% ‘collection fee’ on all orders to facilitate payments from customers on the food delivery platform. 

While the company declined to comment on the matter, sources told Inc42 that the platform has begun levying the new charge. As per reports, the fee will be deducted from the payouts to the listed restaurants.

This comes days after the company informed select partner restaurants about the impending move. 

As per a correspondence seen by The Economic Times, Swiggy said, “Commencing from December 20, 2023, we will be introducing a standardised 2% collection fee on all orders. This fee is designed to facilitate smooth customer payments on the Swiggy platform. It is important to note that this amount will be subtracted from your payouts.”

Interestingly, Swiggy is following the suite of competitor Zomato, which already imposes a similar ‘payment gateway fee’ of around 1.8% on all orders. However, the new development from Swiggy comes more than four to five years after the Deepinder Goyal-led company instituted its gateway fee. 

Meanwhile, the move seems to have sparked a major discontent within a section of the members of the National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI). The industry body’s vice president and founder of QSR chain Wow! Momo, Sagar Daryani, reportedly termed the new charges by Swiggy an ‘unwelcome distraction’.

He told ET that the ‘collection fee’ is essentially a method of indirectly raising commission costs. However, the NRAI declined to comment on Inc42’s queries on the matter. 

The new charge could likely be part of Swiggy’s strategy to create alternative revenue streams and boost its top line as it prepares for a public listing later next year. Just this year, the foodtech major also hiked its platform fee to INR 3 per order, irrespective of cart order, to enhance unit economics and spruce up revenues. 

As per reports, Swiggy’s average order value hovers around INR 400, which means that a 2% collection fee would translate into an additional INR 8 in revenue per order for Swiggy. This could pave the way for better unit economics for the company as it looks to show a healthy balance sheet to investors while filing for its IPO papers. 

As per the half yearly financial report of Swiggy’s investor Prosus, the startup’s food delivery business saw a 28% year-on-year growth in gross merchandise value (GMV) to $1.43 Bn in the first six months of FY24. 

The foodtech major was also one of the best performers in the Dutch investor’s books with an IRR of 7% in H1 FY24.