Zomato to form non-banking finance company to enter financial services biz

Zomato Ltd, restaurant aggregator and food delivery company, has decided to foray into the financial services business and has decided to create a non-banking finance company (NBFC) as a wholly-owned subsidiary for the purpose.

The proposed paid-up capital of NBFC will be Rs 3 crore, while the authorised capital is pegged at Rs 10 crore. The name of the company is being finalised subject to approval by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Zomato said in a filing with the BSE.

The wholly-owned subsidiary will need Reserve Bank of India’s approval to carry on the financial services business.

Zomato, founded by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah in 2008, is a professionally managed company with no promoter or promoter group.

In December 2020, Zomato signed a pact with InCred, a non-banking finance company, under which the latter will extend loans to restaurant partners. The coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic hit the food delivery industry hard leading to a sharp decline in gross merchandise value.