Zepto CEO accuses rival CFO of smear campaign, cites rapid growth amid allegations
New Delhi: Aadit Palicha, the CEO and Co-founder of quick commerce platform Zepto, has accused the chief financial officer (CFO) of a rival company of orchestrating a smear campaign aimed at maligning Zepto’s reputation.
In a LinkedIn post, Palicha claimed that the alleged campaign involves “calling our investors to make wild allegations about us with no empirical evidence, giving out false numbers and Excel sheets on Zepto through sources known to journalists, and paying bots on social media to spread a negative narrative.” However, he did not disclose the name of the competing firm.
Zepto, which competes in the quick commerce space with players like Blinkit (owned by Eternal, formerly Zomato), Swiggy Instamart, Flipkart Minutes, and Tata BigBasket, has seen significant growth in recent months.
“Candidly, this episode is below the stature expected of the CFO of a high-quality company, and makes it obvious that they are starting to get nervous about how fast Zepto's EBITDA is improving,” Palicha stated.
Highlighting Zepto’s recent performance, Palicha said the company has grown from approximately ₹750 crore in monthly gross order value (GOV) in May 2024 to ₹2,400 crore in May 2025. He added that the company’s definition of GOV includes the selling price of fruits and vegetables as well as ad revenue.
Zepto’s EBITDA, according to Palicha, has improved by 20 absolute percentage points from January to May 2025, and is approaching single-digit territory. Additionally, the company’s cash burn has reportedly decreased by nearly 65% in the same period.
Palicha further mentioned that Zepto expects the majority of its dark stores to be fully EBITDA-positive — inclusive of backend supply chain, customer support, last mile, and other fixed/variable store costs — by the next quarter.
“As of the beginning of this quarter, we have approximately ₹7,445 crore of net cash in the bank, fully reconciled to bank statements. With our current cash burn trajectory, we have many years of runway,” he said.
Expressing disapproval of the alleged tactics, Palicha added, “I’m okay with healthy/aggressive competitive talk, but lies are not acceptable. Frankly, these calls from you are only making it clearer to the investor community that we are a strong competitor. It’s best for all of us to simply focus on execution.”
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Kejriwal resorting to 'vendetta politics', says BJP after MP Sandeep Pathak booked
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Saturday accused Aam Aadmi Party's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal of vendetta politics after Punjab Police booked Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak, who recently defected to the BJP.
In an X post, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed that Kejriwal is misusing the Punjab Police to settle political scores, and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has become a party to it.
"Two FIRs have been filed against Sandeep Pathak, who until recently was in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a Rajya Sabha MP and general secretary (organisation). What is baffling is the shameless, brazen vendetta politics being pursued by Arvind Kejriwal, with Bhagwant Mann complicit in it," Poonawalla said.
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"It is clear this has been done out of vendetta politics by Kejriwal, who is extremely vengeful and vindictive, and misuses the Punjab Police to pursue such political vendetta," he alleged.
Questioning the timing of the FIRs, Poonawalla said, "If these cases existed from the beginning, why were FIRs not filed earlier? If he was corrupt, why was he kept in the party for so long, especially when he was the general secretary (organisation)? Has any new material surfaced in the last few days, or has the alleged corruption occurred only now?"
He alleged that Kejriwal has an "old habit" of targeting political opponents and dissenters.
"We have seen how he has used the police against rivals, including Congress leaders. This is his old habit," Poonawalla said, referring to the withdrawal of Rajya Sabha MP Harbhajan Singh's security.
Poonawalla claimed that several leaders who had left AAP over the years, including Yogendra Yadav, Mayank Gandhi, Ashish Khetan, Ashutosh and Alka Lamba, were "hounded".
He accused the party of failing to introspect.
"Instead of introspecting on how they have changed -- from Anna to Lalu, from Lokpal to corruption -- they are indulging in vendetta politics, trying to victimise people using the strong arm of the law. This reflects an Emergency-like mindset and a dictatorial, Hitlerian mindset," he said.
According to sources, two FIRs have been lodged against Pathak under non-bailable sections.
No further details about the FIRs have been disclosed yet.
On April 24, the AAP suffered a jolt when seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha MPs quit, alleging that Arvind Kejriwal's party has strayed from its principles, values and core morals.
Of the seven MPs -- who were Pathak, Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta, Vikramjit Sahney and Swati Maliwal -- six were from Punjab.
Later, Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan officially accepted their merger with the BJP, reducing AAP's strength in the Upper House to three.
