Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal on Zepto’s ‘quirky’ marketing: ‘Hum se hi seekh ke gaye’

New Delhi: Zomato founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal took a cheeky dig at rival Zepto’s marketing during his appearance on entrepreneur Raj Shamani’s podcast, saying the quick commerce player’s “quirky and nice” marketing is being run by former Zomato executives.

Asked to name one thing Zepto does well, Goyal said, “their marketing is quirky and nice”, and then added, “But the Zomato team runs it. Ex Zomato log hain vo saare.” He followed it up with, “Hum se hi seekh ke gaye hain sab. Good for them,” while chuckling. 

On competition, Goyal said he does not track rivals closely and does not place orders on Swiggy or Zepto to check their customer experience. Pressed by Shamani, he said Swiggy remains a “formidable” competitor in food delivery and added that there is hardly “ek inch extra room” in that fight.

In the same conversation, Goyal was asked about Zepto co-founder and CEO Aadit Palicha. Goyal said he likes Palicha based on their meetings and described him as “smart”, “talks well” and “earnest”. 

The episode also touched on Zomato’s early reluctance to enter last-mile food delivery. Goyal said Swiggy moved first on logistics, and he resisted for a couple of years because he believed the economics would not work. He said Zomato had to adapt as consumer preference became clear. 

Goyal also recalled how Swiggy extended its rivalry to Shark Tank India sponsorships, claiming the brand’s deal was linked to his removal as a judge. He said he told the producers to “get a lot of money” out of the deal, but added that such a fight was unnecessary.

On quick commerce, Goyal said Zomato does not fixate on competitors. He also referred to the earlier public exchange around his remarks on the sector’s cash burn, saying his comments were misinterpreted after Palicha pushed back publicly.

Separately, Goyal spoke about gig workforce churn and dispute resolution systems. He said Zomato terminates around 5,000 delivery partners every month, positioning it as part of managing a high-churn delivery network rather than arbitrary firings. He said Zomato and Blinkit together work with 7–8 lakh monthly active delivery partners and onboard 1.5–2 lakh new riders every month.

Goyal said the company uses a reputation-based “karma” system to resolve delivery disputes and claimed the platform absorbs losses in a significant share of contested cases when fault cannot be established. He also defended quick commerce delivery timelines, saying “ten-minute delivery is not enabled by asking people to drive fast,” and linked faster delivery to store density and shorter distances.

The remarks have been widely shared online as the rivalry between Zomato-owned Blinkit and Zepto continues to intensify in India’s quick commerce market, while Zomato and Swiggy remain locked in the core food delivery battle.