Former Junior Swiggy Staff Embezzled INR 33 Cr, Probe Launched

IPO-bound foodtech giant Swiggy revealed in its annual report for the financial year 2023-24 that a former junior employee had embezzled INR 33 Cr over an extended period.

The company initiated an investigation with an external team and has filed a legal complaint against the individual, Moneycontrol reported.

“The Group, during the current year, identified embezzlement of funds in one of the subsidiaries by a former junior employee amounting to INR 326.76 Mn over the past periods..,” the company said in the report.

“Based on review of the facts discovered during the investigation, the Group has recorded an expense for the aforementioned amount during the year ended March 31, 2024,” it added further.

This comes at a time when Swiggy is planning to list on the bourses later this year. It filed its draft IPO papers via the confidential route with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) earlier this year.

As per recent reports, Swiggy is eyeing a valuation of $15 Bn valuation for its $1 Bn to $1.2 Bn IPO. The foodtech major was last pegged at $10.7 Bn.

Founded in 2014 by Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy, Phani Kishan Addepalli, Rahul Jaimini, Swiggy started off as a food delivery startup but later forayed into the quick commerce segment with Instamart. It also offers services such as Swiggy Genie and Minis stores.

Swiggy reportedly saw its revenue grow 36% to INR 11,247 Cr in the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 8,265 Cr in the previous year.

Meanwhile, Swiggy also slashed its net loss by 44% to INR 2,350 Cr during the year under review from INR 4,179 Cr in FY23.

Swiggy managed to narrow its losses by cutting back on advertising expenses, with promotional and marketing costs dropping to INR 1,851 Cr in FY24 from INR 2,501 Cr in FY23. Despite this, the company’s total expenditures saw a modest increase of 8%, rising to INR 13,947 Cr in FY24 compared to INR 12,884 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

Its gross order value (GOV) reached $4.2 Bn, marking a 26% year-on-year (YoY) growth. The platform had approximately 14.3 Mn monthly transacting users. Of the total GOV, $3 Bn came from food delivery, while Instamart and Dineout contributed $1 Bn and $300 Mn, respectively.