Zomato Turns Profitable: Is This the New Normal?

For years, Zomato was the poster child of India’s “growth first, profits later” startup culture. The company chased market share like its life depended on it—discount-heavy campaigns, aggressive expansion into new cities, and acquisitions that sometimes felt like side quests. Profitability? That was a problem for Future Zomato to deal with.

But the future has arrived, and Zomato just posted a profit. Not a one-off accounting quirk, not a tiny positive quarter sandwiched between years of losses—an actual, operational profit. For a business in the food delivery space, where margins are notoriously thin and customer loyalty is about as stable as a Jenga tower, this is a big deal.

So, what changed? Zomato quietly reworked the fundamentals. Discounts became smarter and less frequent. Commissions from restaurants improved. Delivery logistics got sharper, with better order density and reduced cost per delivery. Their bet on Zomato Gold 2.0 and Hyperpure (their B2B supplies arm) started paying off. Even Blinkit, their quick commerce gamble, seems to be finding its footing. In short, they stopped chasing vanity metrics and started running like an actual business.

The real question is whether this is just a “good quarter” or the beginning of a new normal for Indian startups. For a long time, profitability in tech was seen almost like a graduation ceremony—you’d get there eventually, once you’d “captured the market.” But investor sentiment has shifted. Cheap capital is no longer flooding the ecosystem, and public market investors have little patience for perpetual losses. Zomato turning profitable could signal a shift in mindset across the board: burn less, earn more, survive longer.

Still, it’s worth noting that food delivery is a brutal business. Customer behavior can change overnight, and competition isn’t going away. Swiggy is still in the race, and new players can pop up faster than your biryani delivery. A few bad quarters or policy changes, and the balance sheet can start looking shaky again.

If Zomato can hold this line—profitable growth without backsliding into old habits—it might not just be a turning point for them, but a case study for Indian startups on how to evolve from hustle mode to sustainable mode. For now, it’s a milestone worth noting. But whether it’s the new normal or just a rare sunny day in a volatile market? That’s the part we’ll have to wait and watch.