According to reports, food and grocery delivery company Zomato reported a Rs. 253 crore net profit for the April-June quarter, compared with Rs 2 crore a year earlier, even as operating revenue rose 74 percent to Rs 4,206 crore.

Better-than-expected earnings (analysts had expected profits of Rs. 21.5-23.5 billion) sent the Gurgaon-based company's share price soaring toward the end of the trading session, with a market capitalization of nearly $25 billion. The stock closed 2 percent higher at Rs. 234.10 after rising as high as Rs. 238.00.

Q1 revenue growth was primarily due to contributions from Blinkit, a quick commerce business, and Hyperpure, a B-to-B grocery supply business; Zomato also launched District, a standalone app for out-of-home businesses such as dining out, events, and ticket sales.

Blinkit, which market analysts point to as the driving force behind Zomato's rising valuation, has expanded its aggressive expansion plans. According to the company's CEO, Alvinder Dhindsa, Blinkit now aims to have 2,000 dark stores by the end of 2026.

In May, the company said it planned to double the number of these micro warehouses, from where quick-commerce platforms make deliveries to consumers, to 1,000 by March 2025. As on June 30, Blinkit had 639 dark stores.

The majority of new dark store openings in the April-June period occurred in markets outside the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Albinder Dhindsa, CEO, Blinkit says, “Recently, some players have been spending more on marketing and subsidies. However, our customers, who value quality of service and reliability, seem to be unaffected and that reflects in our performance of the quarter, where we have grown 20 percent + without the need to match spends or subsidies of our competitors.”

“The advent of quick commerce has made people want things faster than they would have otherwise got from ecommerce. This has led to a direct share shift of a number of non-grocery use cases to quick commerce where customers were primarily reliant on ecommerce for buying these products,” adds Dhindsa.