Overview
- Zomato began showing a distinct “Pay on delivery” charge on some cash-on-delivery orders on Saturday, September 12, 2026, with reported amounts ranging from ₹5 to ₹21.
- The fee appears as a separate line in the bill and is billed in addition to platform fees, restaurant packaging charges, and GST while customers who pay online are not charged it.
- Published examples show the levy varies across transactions and the company has not publicly explained how the amount is set or whether the charge is nationwide.
- The change follows Zomato’s March increase of its platform fee and recent cuts to customer support staff, which together signal a push to improve unit economics across a highly competitive market.
- Because Zomato handles roughly 2.3–2.5 million orders a day, even a small per-order COD fee could scale into substantial incremental revenue and may prompt users to switch to digital payments or push rivals to reconsider pricing.