Zomato has introduced a new feature called Food Rescue to minimise food wastage, announced the food delivery platform CEO Deepinder Goyal on Sunday.

Announcing the new feature on X, Goyal said the decision, to introduce the new feature, was taken to prevent the tremendous amount of food wastage due to order cancellation on the platform.

Committed to minimising food wastage, the Zomato boss said: “We don’t encourage order cancellation at Zomato, because it leads to a tremendous amount of food wastage.”

Goyal said despite having stringent policies, and a no-refund policy for cancellations, more than 4 lakh perfectly good orders get cancelled, for various reasons by customers.

He said the top concern for the online food delivery platform, the restaurant industry, and even the customers who cancel these orders, is to somehow save the food from going to waste.

With the launch of the new feature, Food Rescue, cancelled orders will now pop up for nearby customers, who can grab them at an unbeatable price, in their original untampered packaging, and receive them in just minutes.

According to Zomato, the cancelled order will pop up on the app for customers within a 3 km radius of the delivery partner carrying the order. To ensure freshness, the option to claim will only be available for a few minutes.

The online food delivery platform will not keep any proceeds except the required government taxes and the amount paid by the new customer will be shared with the original customer (if they made payment online) and with the restaurant partner.

Orders containing items sensitive to distances or temperature such as ice creams, shakes, smoothies, and certain perishable items, will not be eligible for Food Rescue.

Restaurant partners will continue to receive compensation for the original cancelled order, plus a portion of the amount paid by the new customer if the order is claimed, the company said. “Most restaurants have opted in for this feature, and can opt of it easily whenever they want, directly from their control panels,” it added.

The delivery partners will be compensated fully for the entire trip, from the initial pickup to the final drop-off at the new customer’s location, it said.

Food Rescue will show up on the customers’ home page automatically if there’s a cancelled order available for them to grab. The Customers have to refresh the home page to check for any newly available orders which need to be rescued.

The share price of PayTm fell by nearly 2 per cent on Tuesday following a warning from the the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

PayTm’s parent One 97 Communication had got SEBI’s administrative warning letter on some transactions involving the PayTm Payments Bank during fiscal year 2021-2022. The bourses reacted strongly leading to PayTm shares falling by 1.88% to Rs 460.80 per share on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

SEBI said it had noted the violation with concern and said these matters are being viewed very seriously. The regulator warned the company to exercise caution going forward and improve compliance to rules to prevent similar incidents in the future.

The markets regulator added that failure to comply with rules may force it to invoke enforcement actions as per the law.

In its response to SEBI, PayTm said in a media release that it has always followed listing regulations, as well as any change to these rules over time. The company said it would keep up its commitment to maintain and follow high standards of compliance. Paytm said it intends to provide an adequate response to SEBI on this matter.

PayTm said it has always followed Regulation 23 along with Regulation 4(1)(h) of the SEBI Listing Regulations, without including any change made to these rules over time. Paytm added that the letter from  SEBI has no influence on its finances, operations or other activities in any way.

The food delivery majors, Zomato and Swiggy, have recently increased their platform fee by 6 per cent for food orders initially in Delhi and Bengaluru.

The food giant is currently charging in the national capital and IT hub, Bengaluru, the platform fee is distinct from delivery fee, goods and services GST, handling charge and restaurant charges.

After the hike, the platform fee would be Rs 6 per order from an earlier Rs 5 per order. Gradually, the higher platform fee is expected to roll out to other cities as well.

Notably, this fee is applicable universally to all food orders, irrespective of customer enrollment in loyalty programmes offered by both food giants. The charges directly contribute to the companies’ revenue streams and cost management efforts. The platform fee goes to the food aggregators to apparently control costs and increase revenues.

In April, they charged Rs 5 per order, but now it’s been increased by Rs 6 per order. That’s a 20% increase in fees for food delivery. This change in their strategy to adjust the price in a market as they expand their services.

Increase in platform fees, impacting how much customers pay for their food deliveries across the board. When customers order food using the app, they will notice different charges, besides the platform fees. These include delivery fees, handling fees, GST (Goods and Services Tax), and charges from the restaurant.

The charges earned by the platform, directly go to the food delivery app, helping to manage all expenses and boost their wages. The food delivery platform aimed to make between Rs 1.25 to Rs 1.5 crore per day through the fee, the app charges.

In August last year, Zomato introduced platform fees of Rs 2 per order for the first time. In October, they raised their platform fees from Rs 2 to Rs 3 in most and in major cities. Additionally,  Zomato is a quick commerce platform.

According to reports, Zomato stock reached its highest price of Rs 232 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. This achievement has made Zomato founder and CEO, Deepinder Goyal, a billionaire. The company has experienced a strong upward trend over the past years, driven largely by the expansion and success of its quick commerce subsidiary in Blinkit.