India’s quick commerce turf war just turned personal.

Zepto cofounder Aadit Palicha has publicly accused the chief financial officer of a rival company of running a coordinated smear campaign to discredit the fast-growing startup. In a no-holds-barred LinkedIn post, Palicha alleged that the rival CFO has been circulating false data to investors, journalists, and on social media—with the help of proxy sources and even paid bots.

“This episode is below the stature expected of the CFO of a high-quality company,” Palicha wrote, claiming the attack reflects nervousness over Zepto’s improving financials. “They’re getting rattled by how fast our EBITDA is improving.”

According to Palicha, the CFO in question has been sharing “wild allegations” unsupported by facts and going as far as distributing doctored Excel sheets to members of the media. Zepto, he said, chose to go public now as a “preemptive” step in case misleading stories begin to circulate.

The startup backed its defense with fresh performance data: monthly gross order value (GOV) has surged from ₹750 crore in May 2024 to ₹2,400 crore in May 2025.

EBITDA has improved by 2,000 basis points in just five months, and the company’s cash burn has dropped by 65% over the same period. Zepto claims consistent 4–5% month-on-month growth, adding up to a 20% jump in GOV since January.

A majority of its dark stores are expected to be EBITDA-positive by the next quarter, and at the company level, both EBITDA and operating cash flow are said to be near breakeven. Zepto also claimed to have ₹7,445 crore in net cash—fully reconciled with bank statements—giving it what Palicha described as “many years of runway.”

Countering speculation about store closures, Palicha insisted that Zepto is not undergoing any large-scale rationalisation and is in fact ramping up the launch of new dark stores. He also used the moment to underscore the startup’s governance standards, pointing to best-in-class payment systems, vendor audits, physical asset verification, and a clean record in statutory audits conducted by Big Four firms. Past diligence exercises, he said, found no material irregularities.

While Palicha didn’t name the rival CFO or company, the allegations come at a time when competition in India’s quick commerce sector is intensifying. Zepto is locked in a battle with Blinkit (owned by Zomato), Swiggy Instamart, and Flipkart Minutes in a segment that has grown more than fivefold since 2022. A March 2025 report by Bain & Company and Flipkart pegged the market size at $6–7 billion, accounting for over two-thirds of all e-retail orders last year.

But the boom has come at a steep cost. As of early 2025, Blinkit, Instamart, and Zepto were collectively burning ₹1,300–1,500 crore per month, with Zepto accounting for the largest chunk, according to The Economic Times.