How the Zomato Business Model Earns From Restaurants and Diners
How Zomato earns from restaurant commissions, fees and advertising
Key Takeaways
- Zomato food delivery net order value was Rs 11,445 crore in Q2 FY27, up 21.5% year on year
- Food delivery adjusted EBITDA was Rs 627 crore, 5.5% of net order value, in Q2 FY27
- Zomato had 28.0 million average monthly transacting customers in Q2 FY27, up 16%
- Eternal, Zomato's parent, reported Rs 24,138 crore revenue from operations in Q2 FY27
- Eternal's FY26 profit was Rs 366 crore on Rs 54,364 crore of revenue from operations
The Zomato business model earns money from commission on restaurant orders, delivery and platform fees paid by customers, advertising and Gold membership. Zomato is the food delivery app of Eternal Limited, the listed company that was called Zomato Limited until March 2025.
In Q2 FY27 (July to September 2026), Zomato's food delivery business had a net order value of Rs 11,445 crore and an adjusted EBITDA of Rs 627 crore. In FY26, Eternal reported consolidated revenue from operations of Rs 54,364 crore and a profit of Rs 366 crore.
Zomato at a glance
| Detail | Zomato |
|---|---|
| What it does | Online food delivery from restaurant partners, as a business of Eternal |
| Co-founders | Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah |
| Group CEO of Eternal | Albinder Dhindsa, since 1 February 2026 |
| Q2 FY27 net order value | Rs 11,445 crore (Q2 FY26: Rs 9,423 crore) |
| Q2 FY27 adjusted revenue | Rs 3,879 crore |
| Q2 FY27 adjusted EBITDA | Rs 627 crore, 5.5% of net order value |
| Q2 FY27 average monthly transacting customers | 28.0 million |
| Eternal Q2 FY27 profit | Rs 125 crore (Q2 FY26: Rs 65 crore) |
| Listing | Eternal is listed on NSE and BSE, since 23 July 2021 |
What Zomato does
Zomato is a food ordering app. Customers browse restaurant partners, place an order and pay in the app, and delivery partners bring the food to them.
Zomato is one of the businesses of Eternal. The others are Blinkit (quick commerce), District (going out), Hyperpure (supplies for restaurants) and smaller new initiatives. Eternal's corporate website is shown below.
How Zomato makes money
This section covers how Zomato makes money, in other words the Zomato revenue model. The streams below are described without amounts.
- Commission from restaurants. Restaurant partners pay a commission or service fee on each order.
- Delivery charges and platform fees. Customers pay delivery charges and a platform fee on food delivery orders. Eternal includes both in its adjusted revenue measure for the food delivery business.
- Advertising. Restaurants pay for advertising on the app.
- Gold membership. Zomato Gold members get free delivery, and the cost of those free delivery discounts is netted off in adjusted revenue.
Eternal reports two revenue measures. Revenue from operations is the figure in its financial statements. Adjusted revenue adds the customer delivery charges, net of discounts including free delivery on Gold, and the platform fee and other charges on food delivery orders that are not already included in reported revenue. Zomato food delivery adjusted revenue was Rs 3,879 crore in Q2 FY27.
Zomato revenue model and key metrics
Eternal measures food delivery by net order value (NOV). Zomato's NOV was Rs 11,445 crore in Q2 FY27, up 21.5% year on year. Adjusted EBITDA is NOV-based too: it was Rs 627 crore, or 5.5% of NOV.
Adjusted EBITDA is Eternal's own measure. It is EBITDA plus share based payment expense, less rent paid on leases covered by Ind AS 116. It is not the same as net profit.
Food delivery NOV was Rs 37,993 crore in FY26. Average monthly transacting customers grew 16% year on year to 28.0 million in Q2 FY27.
Zomato business model canvas
The canvas below sets out the nine blocks of the Zomato business model.
Where Zomato sits in Eternal
Eternal reports results for the whole group. In Q2 FY27 its consolidated revenue from operations was Rs 24,138 crore and its profit was Rs 125 crore. Its consolidated adjusted revenue was Rs 24,621 crore and its consolidated adjusted EBITDA was Rs 666 crore. Food delivery adjusted revenue of Rs 3,879 crore compares with Rs 19,152 crore at Blinkit, which since the move to selling its own inventory books the full value of goods sold as revenue.
For the full year, Eternal's FY26 consolidated revenue from operations was Rs 54,364 crore and its profit for the year was Rs 366 crore. Eternal had Rs 16,475 crore of cash at the end of Q2 FY27, after the balance fell by Rs 1,813 crore during the quarter.
Zomato's journey so far
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| 23 Jul 2021 | Zomato lists on NSE and BSE at an issue price of Rs 76 |
| Jun 2022 | Board approves buying Blinkit in an all stock deal of about Rs 4,447 crore |
| Mar 2025 | The company is renamed Eternal Limited, while the app stays Zomato |
| Jan 2026 | Deepinder Goyal says he will step down as Group CEO, with Albinder Dhindsa taking over from 1 February |
| 28 Apr 2026 | Eternal reports FY26 consolidated revenue from operations of Rs 54,364 crore |
| 21 Oct 2026 | Eternal reports Q2 FY27, with Zomato net order value of Rs 11,445 crore |
Who Zomato competes with
Swiggy also runs food delivery in India. Its Instamart quick commerce service competes with Eternal's Blinkit, and Zepto also competes with Blinkit in quick commerce.
Challenges Zomato faces
Food delivery adjusted EBITDA margin was 5.5% of NOV in Q2 FY27, down slightly from 5.6% in Q1 FY27. Eternal is contesting the validity of Karnataka's platform based gig workers law before the appropriate forum.
Conclusion on the Zomato business model
The Zomato business model connects customers, restaurant partners and delivery partners on one app. It earns from commission on restaurant orders, customer delivery and platform fees, advertising and Gold membership.
In Q2 FY27 Zomato food delivery had a net order value of Rs 11,445 crore, an adjusted EBITDA of Rs 627 crore and 28.0 million average monthly transacting customers.
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