What Rs 22,623 Crore of Revenue and a Rs 5,905 Crore Loss Tell a Founder About Scale

Headline and Overview

Inc42 reported in August 2026, from Zepto's filings, that the company's operating revenue in FY26 was Rs 22,623.58 crore. Total expenditure was Rs 29,026.75 crore, and the net loss after exceptional items was Rs 5,905.19 crore, compared with Rs 4,699.71 crore in FY25 and Rs 1,214.79 crore in FY24. The company has filed to list, with a proposed fresh issue of up to Rs 8,010 crore plus an offer for sale, according to the same report.

Where the revenue comes from

Sales of traded goods were Rs 17,587.92 crore, 77.7% of operating revenue and about 4.5 times the Rs 3,905.19 crore of FY24. Services revenue was Rs 5,022.52 crore, or 22.2%, up from Rs 547.61 crore in FY24. Within services, warehousing, packaging and last-mile fees were Rs 2,779.84 crore, advertising Rs 1,635.73 crore (7.2%), and platform services Rs 564.17 crore. Subscription fees were only Rs 28.31 crore. Inc42 estimated net advertising contribution, ad revenue less ad spend, at about Rs 247 crore.

“The company is losing money on goods sold before even counting delivery rider pay, rent, or app costs.”

Where the money goes

The cost of goods purchased was Rs 18,484.98 crore. Delivery and handling cost Rs 3,046.34 crore, warehousing Rs 2,149.85 crore, employee benefits Rs 1,784.67 crore and advertising Rs 1,389.12 crore. Inc42's sharpest observation was that, after adjusting for inventory change, the net cost of goods exceeded traded-goods sales by about Rs 610 crore. In the publication's words, "The company is losing money on goods sold before even counting delivery rider pay, rent, or app costs."

Delivery cost per order was Rs 42.05 in FY24, Rs 45.80 in FY25 and Rs 45.74 in FY26. As a share of revenue it was 13.04%, 14.39% and 13.47%. Inc42 noted that "the cost of putting an order in a customer's hands has not reduced by much", even as the business grew. The average number of monthly active delivery partners rose from 49,278 to 118,919 to 221,667 over the three years. Orders reached 23.3 lakh a day in the March 2026 quarter.

The regulatory cost on the horizon

The Code on Social Security took effect on 21 November 2025. Platforms face a levy of 1 to 2% of turnover for gig-worker benefits, capped at 5% of payments to workers. Inc42 estimated, as its own calculation, that the levy at the lower end would be Rs 226 to Rs 452 crore on FY26 revenue. It is not a company figure.

What a founder can learn: our analysis

1. Growth and efficiency are different charts. Revenue grew several times over two years, but delivery cost per order barely moved. When the most visible unit cost stays flat as volume rises, scale is not yet doing the work a plan assumed it would.

2. Services income is the bridge. The shift from selling goods to selling services such as advertising, platform access and logistics is an attempt to raise the margin on each order. The test is whether brands keep paying for it when growth slows.

3. Gross margin comes before overhead. The reported negative position on goods before delivery is a reminder to check product margin first. No amount of operating discipline fixes a product that loses money on each unit before any other cost.

4. Regulation is a cost line. Labour codes and platform levies change the economics of any business that depends on gig work. Model them early.

5. A listing is a deadline, not a cure. Public markets can fund expansion but also demand a path to profit. Founders considering an IPO should treat it as a discipline.

Cautions

These are one publication's reading of filings, and we have not reproduced the filings themselves. Net loss after exceptional items may include non-operating items that we cannot separate. A company in a high-growth phase can rationally accept losses; the question is whether the path to profit is credible. The data in this piece cannot answer that.

Questions to ask of any fast-growing company

What is the contribution margin per order, before overhead? How much of growth depends on discounts? How long can the current cash last at the present burn? What happens to volume if prices rise slightly? Which costs fall with scale and which do not?

For MSMEs

A small firm that supplies a platform like this should look at the services lines. Payments and terms can change when a platform's own economics are under pressure, so keep receivable periods short and avoid depending on a single buyer.