Food delivery major Eternal, parent of Zomato and Blinkit, posted a threefold increase in third quarter revenue from a year earlier, driven mainly by a change in quick commerce unit Blinkit’s operating model — from marketplace to inventory-led. On a like-for-like basis, revenue grew 65%.
Swiggy posted a 54% expansion in revenue, while Ather Energy reported 50%. Revenue grew between 31% and 38% at Lenskart, PB Fintech, PhysicsWallah and Meesho. Nykaa delivered a 27% expansion and Groww posted a 25% increase. Payment company Paytm and logistics firm Delhivery posted strong revenue growth of around 20%, with Go Digit being the only one with a single-digit expansion on the top-12 list.
Most of these companies also posted improvement in profits. Net profit rose two-and-a-half times at beauty and fashion retailer Nykaa, while Eternal reported a 73% increase. Delhivery posted 56% profit growth, though on a low base, and Paytm swung to a profit from a year-earlier loss.
ETtech
Quick commerce divergence
The improvement in Eternal’s profitability has come on the back of Blinkit breaking even at an operating level, even as the company’s management has guided that it will not hold back on sacrificing near-term profits in order to retain its market leadership and capture long-term growth prospects.
Rival Swiggy, which has also been incurring heavy cash burn in the hypercompetitive quick commerce space, saw comparatively slower revenue growth, even as its loss widened in the third quarter.At its analyst call last month, Swiggy said it would not participate in practices of waiving fees and chasing inducement-led volume gains.
Analysts at brokerage firm Motilal Oswal said near-term growth for Swiggy’s quick commerce unit, Instamart, could be lower “due to aggressive competition, but improving unit economics through higher AOVs (average order values), better store utilisation and controlled reinvestment provides visibility on gradual margin improvement.”
Fintech roller coaster
Listed fintech companies rode the consumption boom during the festive months to report healthy business growth. Paytm, Go Digit General Insurance and PB Fintech all reported net profits driven by strong business momentum.
Brokerages Bernstein, Jefferies and Morgan Stanley pointed out steady growth in payment volumes, coupled with fiscal discipline, as positive indicators for Paytm. Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma announced that the company would be focusing on regaining market share in the consumer payments space, a sector where it has ceded territory to PhonePe, its Bengaluru-based rival that is aiming to go public this year.
For PB Fintech, health and term insurance products drove business growth. Group chief executive Yashish Dahiya told ET on February 2 that health grew 79% year-on-year, followed by term insurance.
At insurance company Go Digit, which posted the slowest revenue (net premium) growth at 4% among the top dozen new-age companies, premium collections in the two-wheeler segment grew 47%, after the GST cut in September drove vehicle sales and, in turn, boosted demand for insurance.
Newly listed companies
Among these 12 companies, five debuted on the bourses in 2025. Lenskart, Groww, Meesho, PhysicsWallah and Ather Energy have aligned themselves with public market expectations—delivering strong revenue growth, posting sizable profits, or in some cases managing both.
Meesho posted 31% year-on-year revenue growth, well ahead of the 18-20% annual expansion estimated for the broader ecommerce industry. However, this came at the cost of profitability. The company’s net loss widened over 13-fold to Rs 491 crore, as it spent heavily on customer acquisition and expanding its logistics network.
Electric two-wheeler maker Ather Energy continued to steadily gain market share, lifting revenue while narrowing losses, boosted by strong demand during the festive season and amid market loss for rival Ola Electric.
For Groww, while revenue grew 25%, net profit fell 27% on year. The company said its year-earlier results were benefited by some exceptional items.