Zomato Cash on Delivery Fee Added — Charges Vary From Rs 5 to Rs 20

Contents

Zomato Cash on Delivery Fee Appears at Checkout Zomato has been steadily expanding its per-order charges Competition could make Zomato’s pricing strategy more important Small charges could become a bigger investor story

A Rs 5 charge may look insignificant on a single food order. But for Zomato, even a small fee multiplied across millions of daily orders could become another meaningful monetisation lever.

Eternal-owned Zomato has started charging customers an additional “Pay on delivery fee” when they choose cash on delivery, adding another layer to the growing list of consumer-facing charges on the food-delivery platform.

The move comes as the food-delivery market becomes increasingly competitive, raising a bigger question for investors: Can Zomato continue increasing revenue per order without hurting customer demand?

Track Live : NSE Option Chain — Live | BSE Option Chain — Live Sensex & Bankex Options Data Today

Zomato Cash on Delivery Fee Appears at Checkout

The new charge is shown separately in Zomato’s bill summary. Customers opting to pay in cash when their food arrives are charged an additional amount, while online-payment orders do not attract the fee.

The standard charge appears to be Rs 5, although app listings reviewed by Moneycontrol showed variations, with some customers reportedly seeing charges of Rs 7 and even Rs 20.

The Zomato COD fee is separate from the platform fee, restaurant packaging charges and GST. That means customers choosing cash payment could now see another line item added to an already itemised food-delivery bill.

Theoretical Revenue Impact

Because Zomato processes a massive volume of orders daily, even small micro-transactions compound into significant revenue streams:

Daily Order Volume: 2.3 million to 2.5 million food orders per day.
Theoretical Daily Revenue: ₹1.15 crore to ₹1.25 crore per day (if 100% of orders used COD).
Theoretical Annual Revenue: ₹420 crore to ₹456 crore annually.

Note: This is a theoretical upper limit. Since COD orders only account for a fraction of total transactions, the actual revenue generated will depend entirely on the platform’s cash-to-digital payment split.

A strong fact box

Item	Latest detail
New charge	Pay-on-delivery/COD fee
Reported starting amount	₹5
Reported variation	₹7 to ₹20 in Moneycontrol’s review
ET-reported upper amount	Up to ₹30
Online payment	No COD-specific fee
Zomato platform fee	₹14.90 + ₹2.68 GST
Effective platform fee	₹17.58
Zomato daily food orders	2.5M+
Theoretical ₹5/day revenue at 2.5M orders	₹1.25 crore
Theoretical annual equivalent	₹456.25 crore
Swiggy COD fee	No similar fee reported by Moneycontrol
Ownly daily orders	50,000+ in Bengaluru

One caution: because the reports differ on the maximum COD charge (Moneycontrol reports up to ₹20 in reviewed listings, while ET reports up to ₹30), I would not state ₹30 as a universal Zomato fee without independently verifying the actual checkout screens.

Zomato has been steadily expanding its per-order charges

The latest COD fee follows a broader monetisation trend that has been building for several years.

Moneycontrol first reported in April 2023 that food-delivery platforms were introducing platform fees, with Swiggy testing a Rs 2 charge. Zomato subsequently introduced its own platform fee.

That fee has since increased. Zomato’s platform fee was raised to Rs 14.99 per order, from Rs 12.5, with GST charged separately.

For investors, this highlights the importance of revenue per order rather than simply looking at order growth. Even modest increases in charges can potentially generate substantial annualised revenue at Zomato’s scale.

Track Live : Gap Up / Gap Down Stocks – Today’s NSE Opening Gaps

Competition could make Zomato’s pricing strategy more important

The timing is particularly interesting because competition in India’s food-delivery market is intensifying.

Rapido’s Ownly is gaining traction, while Flipkart is piloting its Eat In food-delivery offering. Startups such as Swish have also raised fresh funding, adding pressure on established players including Zomato and Swiggy.

Rival Swiggy has not introduced a similar COD fee so far, leaving open the question of whether it will eventually adopt a comparable monetisation strategy.

For Zomato, the challenge will be balancing higher monetisation with customer retention. Consumers may accept a small additional charge, but a growing collection of fees could influence ordering behaviour, particularly among price-sensitive users.

1. Zomato’s COD Fee Is Not Necessarily Limited to ₹5

Zomato has introduced a separate “Pay on delivery fee” for customers choosing cash on delivery.
₹5 is the commonly reported starting amount, but the charge does not appear to be uniform.
Moneycontrol reported instances where customers were charged ₹7 and up to ₹20.
Economic Times has separately reported that the fee can go up to ₹30 in some cases.
This suggests the charge may vary based on the order or customer rather than being a universal ₹5 fee.
Therefore, it is more accurate to describe it as a “pay-on-delivery fee starting at ₹5” rather than a flat ₹5 charge.

2. Cash Payment Has Become Another Monetisation Opportunity

The COD fee is an additional charge, rather than a replacement for an existing fee.
Customers can already encounter several components in their final bill, including:
- Food price
- Delivery charges
- Platform fee
- Packaging or handling charges
- GST and other applicable taxes
- Pay-on-delivery fee
Zomato’s terms state that the total price, including delivery and other charges, is displayed when customers place an order.
This means Zomato is increasingly monetising different parts of the ordering process rather than relying only on the food or delivery transaction itself.

3. Zomato’s Platform Fee Has Reached ₹14.90 Before GST

Zomato increased its platform fee in March 2026.
The fee rose from ₹12.50 to ₹14.90 per order before GST.
Including GST, customers pay ₹17.58 per order.
The increase represented a ₹2.40 rise per order.
Economic Times reported that Zomato’s platform fee had previously been ₹12.50.
Moneycontrol also reported that the effective fee reached ₹17.58 after GST.

4. The Platform Fee Has Increased Dramatically Since 2023

The platform-fee journey shows how quickly small charges have grown:

2023: Around ₹2 when the platform fee was introduced
2024: Increased progressively through several revisions
2025: Moved into double digits
September 2025: Around ₹12
Before March 2026: ₹12.50
March 2026: ₹14.90 before GST
Current effective amount: ₹17.58 including GST

Economic Times noted that the platform fee began at just ₹2 in 2023 and subsequently increased several times, reaching ₹14.90 before GST.

That means the fee has increased by nearly seven times in less than three years.

5. Swiggy Has Followed a Similar Platform-Fee Strategy

Zomato is not alone in increasing consumer-facing platform fees.
Swiggy subsequently raised its platform fee to ₹17.58 per order, including GST.
Swiggy’s previous fee was ₹14.99.
Both companies have therefore moved toward broadly similar platform-fee levels.
Moneycontrol described the Swiggy increase as roughly 17%.
Economic Times reported that both platforms have historically moved their platform fees in broadly similar directions.

6. Even Small Fees Can Generate Significant Revenue at Zomato’s Scale

Zomato processes more than 2.5 million food orders every day, according to Moneycontrol.
This makes even a small per-order charge financially meaningful.

If a ₹5 fee were applied to every order:

2.5 million orders × ₹5 = ₹1.25 crore per day

That would theoretically equal:

₹1.25 crore × 365 = ₹456.25 crore per year

However, this is not a revenue forecast.
COD orders account for only a portion of Zomato’s total orders.
The calculation should therefore be used only to illustrate the potential scale of micro-fees, not expected COD-fee revenue.

7. Zomato’s Food-Delivery Business Has Massive Transactional Scale

Zomato’s large order base is what makes per-order monetisation particularly attractive.
Economic Times reported that Zomato delivered approximately 266.9 million orders during October–December 2025.
At that quarterly volume, even a small increase in the platform fee can generate substantial incremental revenue.
ET estimated that Zomato’s ₹2.40 platform-fee increase could translate into roughly ₹64–65 crore of additional quarterly revenue.
This demonstrates why platforms can focus on seemingly small charges while generating meaningful revenue at scale.

8. New Entrants Are Challenging the Traditional Zomato-Swiggy Model

India’s food-delivery market is becoming more competitive.
Rapido’s Ownly has emerged as a significant new challenger.
Moneycontrol reported that Ownly crossed 50,000 daily food orders in Bengaluru in August 2026.
Bengaluru is estimated to generate 500,000–600,000 food-delivery orders a day.
Ownly’s 50,000 daily orders therefore represent roughly 10% of Bengaluru’s food-delivery market.
Zomato, by comparison, handles more than 2.5 million food orders daily nationally.

9. Ownly Is Taking a Different Pricing Approach

Rapido’s Ownly operates on a zero-commission model for restaurants.
The platform positions itself around lower prices for consumers and reduced costs for restaurants.
Moneycontrol reported that Ownly’s average order value is around ₹200–₹220, compared with approximately ₹400–₹450 for Zomato and Swiggy.
Ownly’s proposition therefore contrasts sharply with the increasing fee-based monetisation model of established platforms.

Small charges could become a bigger investor story

Zomato’s latest COD fee reflects a wider shift in the food-delivery industry: platforms are increasingly looking beyond commissions and delivery charges to monetise individual transactions.

A Rs 5 fee may not materially change a customer’s bill. But across millions of orders, such charges can create a sizeable revenue pool.

For traders and investors, the key question is no longer simply whether Zomato can grow orders. It is how much more revenue the company can generate from each order while keeping customers on the platform.