Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha Alleges Smear Campaign by Rival CFO Amid Rapid Growth

GG News Bureau
Mumbai, 26th May: Aadit Palicha, Co-founder and CEO of Zepto, a prominent player in India’s fast-growing quick commerce sector, has alleged that the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of a rival firm is orchestrating a smear campaign against Zepto. In a candid LinkedIn post, Mr. Palicha accused the unnamed executive of attempting to undermine Zepto’s credibility and growth by spreading misinformation and manipulating public perception.

According to Mr. Palicha, the campaign involves calling investors with “wild allegations” unsupported by evidence, circulating false data through media sources, and employing bots on social media to propagate a negative narrative against Zepto. Although he refrained from naming the rival company, Zepto competes with major players such as Blinkit (owned by Zomato’s parent Eternal), Swiggy Instamart, Flipkart Minutes, and Tata BigBasket.

“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,” Mr. Palicha remarked.

Highlighting Zepto’s financial performance, he stated that the company’s gross order value (GOV) surged from ₹750 crore per month in May 2024 to ₹2,400 crore in May 2025. The company has also seen a 20 percentage point improvement in EBITDA since January 2025, with cash burn reduced by nearly 65% during the same period.

Palicha noted that Zepto now has ₹7,445 crore of net cash in the bank, fully reconciled with bank statements, giving the company a multi-year financial runway. He added that most of the company’s dark stores are expected to turn EBITDA positive—including all backend and operational costs—by the next quarter.

While expressing frustration at the alleged smear tactics, Mr. Palicha maintained a composed stance, saying, “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.”