NITI Aayog's Amitabh Kant congratulates Zomato for 'successful' IPO; CEO Deepinder replies

As the online Food Delivery App Zomato successfully launched its Rs 9,375 crore IPO on Wednesday, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant was among those who congratulated Zomato for the achievement. While highlighting that Zomato has redefined the food delivery system in the country, Amitabh Kant also said that Zomato has also raised Rs 4,000 crores from anchor investors before launching the IPO on Wednesday. The NITI Aayog CEO called Zomato's journey "truly inspiration and mind-boggling" while he mentioned that the food delivery app has its presence in 10,000 cities across 24 countries. Zomato Founder Deepender Goyal was quick to respond in gratitude to Amitabh Kant's praises.

Zomato's highly anticipated IPO

Zomato launched its IPO on Wednesday and is said to be the biggest IPO of the year in India so far. The Zomato IPO closing date is Friday, July 16, 2021. On day one of its biddings, the IPO has been fully subscribed by the investor overshooting the subscription to 1.07 times.

The Rs 9,375 crore IPO opened for subscription today morning after having raised Rs 4,200 crore from anchor investors, while the investors can bid for the public issue at the set price range of Rs 72-76 per share till Friday evening before the closing bell.

The company had received a green signal from market regulator SEBI last week. The company aims to raise Rs 9,375 crore through the offering. The IPO comprises a fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 9,000 crore, while the rest of the amount includes an offer for sale (OFS) worth Rs 375 crore by existing investor Info Edge (India), Naukri.com parent company, according to the information provided in the red herring prospectus.

The anchor portion of the IPO, ahead of its opening, was open on Tuesday, July 13, 2021. According to the data from the stock exchanges, Zomato managed to raise over Rs 4,196 crore from 186 anchor investors in lieu of 55.21 crore equity shares at Rs 76 each, during the early open.

Zomato had earlier mentioned that the funds raised by new shared will be used for supporting Zomato's growth initiatives and other corporate purposes, according to the draft papers presented for the approval of IPO.

India's online food delivery industry

India online food delivery industry is going through a revolutionary phase. According to Businesswire of the Berkshire Hathaway Company, the Indian Online Food Delivery Marker is expected to rise upto USD 21.41 Billion by 2026 from USD 4.66 Billion in 2020. The Indian food delivery market has grown up manifolds in the COVID-19 lockdown, as millions of people leading their lives in the new normal are using food delivery applications such as Zomato and Swiggy. Zomato's rival Swiggy is in the advanced stages of talks with Japanese conglomerate SoftBank to invest up to US$ 450 Million into food delivery startup, which will peg its valuation to US$ 5 Billion

Both the applications offer delivery from leading food outlets across the country and are dominating the Indian food delivery market. While the customers get to chose from a list of numerous restaurants and cuisines, they also avail exciting offers using the food delivery apps.