Shares of Zomato Ltd climbed nearly eight percent in trade on Tuesday even as reports emerged that the company’s Blinkit business is witnessing an exodus of delivery partners. The Zomato stock rose as much as 7.9 percent to hit an intra-day high of Rs 60.40 on BSE on Tuesday. The stock has surged around 19 percent in the past one month.

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The steep rise in the share price on Tuesday came after global investment bank Citi gave a ‘buy’ call on the stock with a target price of Rs 76 per share.

Citi said that both Zomato and Swiggy have introduced monetisation in the dining-out segment. “It’s positive for medium-term platform monetisation,” the bank said in its note.

Meanwhile, an Economic Times report on Monday said that nearly 1,000 delivery executives employed with Zomato-owned Blinkit have joined competitors in the quick commerce business amid a standoff with the company over a change in the pay structure.

Also Read: Over 1,000 Blinkit delivery partners join Swiggy Instamart, and Zepto amid pay structure standoff: Report

The report said that Blinkit delivery executives have joined firms like Big Basket, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto.

Earlier this month, around 2,500 Blinkit delivery workers had gone on strike after the company reduced the fixed payouts per delivery from Rs 25 to Rs 15.

But, Zomato on April 19 informed the stock exchanges that most of the stores of Blinkit had resumed operations. “We had to shut down some stores for a few days to ensure safety of our employees at stores and the delivery partners. Most of these stores have now resumed operations,” it had said in a filing.

Clarifying on the financial impact of the strike at Blinkit, the company had said, “These disruptions and changes have no material impact on the operations/financial performance of the company (meaningfully less than 1 per cent revenue impact).”

First Published:Apr 25, 2023 11:09 AM IST