What Zomato and Swiggy really take from an order, and how to check it

Ask a restaurant owner what Zomato or Swiggy takes and you will usually hear one number, the commission. Ask how much of a ₹500 order reaches the bank and most will not know without opening the payout statement. That gap is what this guide is about: every line between the customer's order and your payout, and how to check them against your own contract.

Rates differ by restaurant, city and what was negotiated, and the platforms change their terms. Use the structure here, and put in your own contract's numbers.

Every line between the order and your bank

1. Commission. A percentage of the order value. Rates commonly quoted run from about 15% to 30%, and depend on whether the platform delivers, your city, and what you signed.
2. Payment collection charge. The platform collects the money from the customer and charges for doing it, usually a couple of percent.
3. GST on those fees, at 18%. The commission and charges are a service the platform sells you, so they carry 18% GST. A restaurant on 5% GST without input tax credit usually cannot get this back, so it is a real cost.
4. Discounts you fund. "50% off up to ₹100" is often paid by the restaurant, in full or in part. Check who funds each offer in your statement, not in the ad.
5. Ads and visibility. Paid placement is billed separately, and it adds up.
6. TDS. The platform deducts a small income tax at source, 0.1% of the order value since October 2024. You claim it back against your income tax, so it is not lost, but it is not in your bank either.
7. Cancellations and refunds. Orders the customer complained about, or the kitchen got wrong, can be charged back to you.

What is not on the list: GST on the food. Since January 2022 the platform collects and pays the 5% GST on food ordered through it. You do not pay it again on those orders.

A worked ₹500 order

Here is one order, with assumptions that are easy to change. Menu price ₹500. A restaurant-funded discount of ₹50. Commission 25% and a 2% payment charge, both on the ₹450 after discount.

• Order value after your discount: ₹450.00
• Commission at 25%: ₹112.50
• Payment charge at 2%: ₹9.00
• GST at 18% on ₹121.50 of fees: ₹21.87
• TDS at 0.1%: ₹0.45
• Paid to you: ₹306.18

So from a ₹500 dish, about ₹306 reaches you, and roughly ₹194, close to 39%, went to the discount, the platform and tax. Ads, if you run them, come on top. Your contract may calculate commission before the discount, or on a different base, which moves the result in either direction. That is why the statement, not the rate card, is the thing to check.

Many restaurants answer this by pricing dishes higher on the apps than on their own menu. That is allowed under most contracts, but it moves the cost onto your regulars, who are the people you most want to keep.

How to check your own payout statement

1. Download the statement from the partner app or dashboard for each payout period. It comes as a spreadsheet, with one row per order.
2. Count the orders. Compare with what your kitchen actually made from that platform for the same days. A missing or extra order is the first thing to raise.
3. Check the commission rate on a few rows. Divide the commission by the order value and compare it with your contract. Check which base it is calculated on.
4. Find the discounts you funded. Add up the restaurant share of discounts for the period. This number surprises people most often.
5. Add up every deduction and divide by the total order value. That is your real take rate for the period. Write it down every month.
6. Match the payout to your bank. The amount on the statement should be the amount that arrived, on the date it says.

For your accounts, book each payout so the commission, the GST on fees and the TDS are visible rather than netted off. The Tally guideshows the four ledgers that does it.

What to do with the number

Leaving the platforms is usually the wrong move. They are good at one thing, putting your food in front of somebody who has never heard of you, and that is worth paying for once. What is not worth paying 35% to 40% for, again and again, is the customer who already knows you and would order direct if it were as easy.

So keep the listing, and give your repeat customers a way to order from you: a link in the bag, on your Instagram and on your Google listing. Every repeat order that moves is the deductions above, kept. The long version is inzero commission ordering for restaurants.

Retova reads your Zomato and Swiggy payout statements, uploaded as .xlsx or .csv, and shows what each platform kept, on every ordering plan and on Cloud Billing from ₹299 a month. Your own ordering website starts at ₹899 a month with no commission on any order. Every price is on the pricing page.