Foodpanda losses widen to Rs 756.4 cr in FY19, co optimistic over higher revenue

Foodpanda, owned by ride-hailing company Ola, has posted a wider loss of Rs 756.42 crore for FY19 compared to the previous fiscal, as per regulatory documents.

Pisces Eservices, which operates Foodpanda, had registered loss of Rs 227.95 crore in FY2017-18, documents filed with the Corporate Affairs Ministry and accessed by business intelligence platform Tofler showed.

However, revenue from operations and other income increased 12.2 per cent to Rs 81.77 crore in FY19 from Rs 72.84 crore in the preceding fiscal.

"The online food ordering market is a multi-billion industry and provides ample opportunity of growth. We being an early player in the online food ordering and processing market have a deep understanding of the market dynamics and the revenue and profitability levers," Foodpanda said in the filing.

It added that the management is revamping the entire process to focus on becoming leaders in food manufacturing and processing.

"To achieve this, we have built state-of-the-art kitchen infrastructure and launched various brands in different segment like shakes, khichdi, biryani, rice bowls and desserts. Our focus this year would be on further improving the customer experience and increasing our market share through a diverse and comprehensive product portfolio," it said.

This, Foodpanda said, would be supported by investment in technology, logistics and brand.

"Our understanding of consumer needs driven by data science gives us a competitive advantage in terms of customer experience, while increasing the capital efficiency," it added.

The company continues to be optimistic about the business and is hopeful of better performance with increased revenue in years to come, the filing said.

Foodpanda did not respond to emailed queries.

Tofler CEO Anchal Agarwal said Foodpanda's burn rate of Rs 756 crore over Rs 82 crore of revenues is one of the highest among Indian startups.

"The significant increase in expenses from the last year is contributed by discounts provided and delivery charges incurred. It is interesting to note that the company has incurred delivery charges of Rs 267 crore compared to its revenues of Rs 82 crore. The discount expenses were to the tune of Rs 137 crore (that's nearly 1.5x of revenues)," she said.

Agarwal said Foodpanda's decision to build out cloud kitchen brands "makes sense in light of the surging expenses the company seems to have incurred in the previous year".

"They have also infused USD 100 million in form of debt in the company," she added.