Blinkit's Margin Declines Amid Heavy Investment In Infrastructure Expansion
As of 30 September, Blinkit operated 791 dark stores and has aggressive plans to expand, targeting 1,000 dark stores by the end of this fiscal year
Blinkit, Zomato's quick commerce platform, experienced a decline in margins due to significant investments in infrastructure expansion during the July-September quarter. While Blinkit continues to dominate the Delhi-National Capital Region market, its revenue share from this region fell from 47 per cent a few quarters ago to below 40 per cent by the end of September, as noted by chief financial officer Akshant Goyal.
In the three months ending in September, Blinkit reported an adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) loss of Rs 8 crore, up from a loss of Rs 3 crore in the previous quarter. Goyal explained that, despite many of their stores being profitable and margins expanding at the store level, overall margin improvement is currently hindered by ongoing investments in scaling infrastructure.
“On a gross order value (GOV) basis, we believe we are the largest player in all the major metros outside of Chennai and Hyderabad (Telangana),” Goyal added. Blinkit currently operates in 40 markets like Delhi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, and other smaller cities such as Ludhiana, Meerut, Panchkula, Haridwar, and more.
As of September 30, Blinkit operated 791 dark stores, micro-warehouses facilitating 10-minute deliveries, up from 639 stores at the end of June. The company has aggressive plans to expand, targeting 1,000 dark stores by the end of this fiscal year and 2,000 by the end of 2026. Additionally, Blinkit is working to extend its services into tier-II and tier-III cities.
