Zomato puts a price on paying in cash
Zomato has begun adding a separate charge when customers choose to pay on delivery. The amount varies, the platform has not confirmed the rollout, and the headline figure is thinner than it looks. For brands running cash on delivery, the signal still matters.
- Inc42 itself observed fees of Rs 5 and Rs 13. The Rs 21 in the headline came from one user post on X, so treat up to Rs 21 as unconfirmed.
- The charge is variable rather than flat, and it applies only when the customer chooses to pay on delivery. Zomato had not responded to Inc42 at publication.
- A behaviour-linked fee is a different instrument from the March 2026 flat platform fee rise to Rs 14.90 from Rs 12.50, which applied regardless of payment mode.
- If a platform can attach a number to cash on delivery, so can you. Price the return rate, the reverse leg and the cash lock-up into your own COD margin before a marketplace prices it for you.
Inc42 reported on 12 September that Zomato has started charging customers extra for choosing cash on delivery. The charge shows up in the app as a Pay on delivery fee, listed separately from the platform fee, the delivery partner fee, restaurant packaging charges and taxes.
The precise figures are worth stating, because the headline runs ahead of the reporting. Inc42 reviewed multiple orders carrying the new fee and saw Rs 5 on one and Rs 13 on another. The Rs 21 figure in the headline came from a single Zomato user who flagged it on X. That is one unverified report, not a documented ceiling, and it should not be quoted as the top of a confirmed band.
What the article does establish is the shape of the charge. It is not flat. The amount varies by order, and it is tied to the payment choice: unlike the platform fee, which applies whatever the payment mode, this one is linked to the customer deciding to pay at the time of delivery. Online payment is shown as the way to avoid it. Inc42 said it had asked Zomato about the rollout, the fee structure and the rationale, and would update the story on receiving a response, so as published there is no company confirmation. Whether this is national or limited is not established either.
The reason this matters beyond one app is that cash on delivery has a real cost that most brands never put a number against. It carries a far higher return rate than prepaid, it pays for a reverse leg on every failed order, and it locks cash through transit and courier reconciliation. Those costs are usually buried in a blended shipping line and never surfaced at the point of choice.
A platform of this size making that cost explicit is the signal. It is also a different move from raising a flat fee. In March 2026 Zomato lifted its platform fee to Rs 14.90 from Rs 12.50 and Swiggy followed to Rs 17.58 from Rs 14.99, both applied to every order. A charge conditional on behaviour is designed to shift the behaviour, not just to collect. Work out what COD actually costs you per order, and decide whether you want to price it or keep absorbing it.
Zane’s analysis draws on original reporting by Inc42. Read the original report.