Zepto’s unlisted shares have seen a sharp correction as expectations around its IPO and valuation have changed. An indicative secondary-market quote was around ₹32 per share in September 2026, while reported levels earlier in the year had reached around ₹58, implying a decline of about 45% from that high. These are off-market indicative prices, not NSE/BSE traded prices.
Revenue Doubled, But Losses Also Increased
Zepto’s FY26 operating revenue jumped 103.63% to ₹22,623.58 crore, compared with ₹11,109.95 crore in FY25. However, its restated loss increased to ₹5,905.19 crore from ₹4,699.71 crore.
The contrast is important. Zepto is not facing a lack of growth. Instead, investors are being asked to place a valuation on a company where revenue is scaling rapidly but profitability has not yet arrived.
The UDRHP itself warns that Zepto may continue to incur losses if it cannot generate sufficient revenue growth, and that historical growth rates may not necessarily continue.
Unit Economics Are Improving
There is another side to the story.Zepto’s Adjusted EBITDA loss per order improved from ₹136.15 in FY25 to ₹78.75 in FY26, while Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of NRV improved from -35.59% to -20.32%. Free cash flow per order also improved from -₹160.56 to -₹67.63.
The quarterly trend is even more notable. as sources reported that adjusted EBITDA loss per order fell to ₹59.4 in the March 2026 quarter, from ₹109.8 in September 2025, while cost per order declined from about ₹180.6 to ₹127.8 over the same period.
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So the issue is not that Zepto’s unit economics are moving in the wrong direction. The question is whether these improvements can happen quickly enough to offset the company’s large absolute losses and expansion requirements.
Cash Burn Is a Bigger Issue Than Revenue Growth
Zepto reported ₹3,462 crore of cash used in operating activities and ₹4,330 crore of negative free cash flow in FY26. Its closing cash balance including investments stood at about ₹5,681 crore, with no borrowings reported.
This means the balance sheet is not debt-heavy, but the company is still operating with significant cash consumption.
That is particularly relevant ahead of an IPO because public-market investors typically have to assess not just how fast a company is growing, but how much additional capital may be required before it can generate sustainable cash flows.
Zepto Is Still Expanding Aggressively
Zepto processed 640.18 million orders in FY26, almost double the 332.11 million orders recorded in FY25. During FY26 Its dark-store network increased from 1,029 stores to 1,139 stores, while annual transacting users rose from 38.38 million to 47.97 million. Orders grew much faster than users, indicating that increasing order frequency has become an important part of the growth equation.
The expansion is not over. Zepto’s UDRHP proposes spending about ₹1,629 crore on opening approximately 1,904 additional dark stores, along with substantial spending on lease rentals and technology infrastructure. This creates a key investor question: Can higher store density and order volumes improve margins faster than the cost of expansion increases?
Advertising Is Emerging as a New Profitability Lever
One of the most interesting changes in Zepto’s business is advertising. Advertisement revenue increased from ₹651 crore in FY25 to ₹1,636 crore in FY26, representing growth of approximately 151%. Advertising receipts rose to 7.78% of NRV, compared with 6.05% a year earlier.
This matters because advertising gives Zepto another way to monetise its large user and merchant ecosystem without relying entirely on delivery and product economics.
But it is still a relatively new revenue stream. Investors therefore need to see whether this business can continue scaling while the company simultaneously improves its core commerce economics.
The IPO Delay Changed Price Discovery
The IPO itself became an important trigger for the unlisted-market correction. In July, as sources reported investor discussions around a $3 billion post-money valuation, substantially below the $7 billion valuation from October 2025. As per the sources later reported that investors were valuing Zepto around $2.5-3 billion, with concerns around profitability, cash reserves and competition. This is significant for unlisted shareholders because the expected IPO had effectively become a reference point for future liquidity and price discovery.
When that anticipated IPO valuation weakened, the secondary market had to adjust its expectations as well. Sources also reported that dealers saw Zepto’s unlisted shares fall to ₹25, from around ₹30-32 a month earlier, with the shares more than 50% below the earlier ₹58 high.
Competition Is Making the Valuation Debate Harder
Zepto is operating in an increasingly competitive quick-commerce market.The UDRHP explicitly identifies intense competition as a risk and says competitors could affect Zepto’s margins, cash flows and results. It also identifies dark-store expansion, user acquisition and the need for additional capital as key business risks.
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The competitive pressure is no longer limited to Blinkit and Instamart. Reports have also highlighted increasing activity from Amazon and Flipkart. This matters because companies with significantly greater financial resources can potentially sustain aggressive investments for longer.Sources reported that investors were increasingly focused on the funding strength of competing platforms as well as Zepto’s own cash position.
Zepto’s Metrics Also Make Peer Comparison More Difficult
Another issue is how investors compare Zepto with listed companies. Sources noted that Zepto’s IPO filing does not disclose certain metrics such as contribution margin and monthly transacting users in the same way as some listed peers. It also uses Net Receivables Value, or NRV, which includes advertising revenue, subscription income and certain user fees.
This means investors cannot always compare Zepto’s reported scale directly with metrics reported by Blinkit or Instamart without adjusting for differences in definitions.
So, Is Lower IPO Valuation the Only Reason?
The evidence points to a combination of factors.The lower valuation discussions are the most visible trigger, because they directly changed expectations for what Zepto could be worth in the public market.
But behind that repricing are several deeper questions: ₹5,905 crore of annual losses, ₹4,330 crore of negative free cash flow, continued dark-store expansion, intense competition and the time required for improving unit economics to translate into company-wide profitability.
At the same time, the company has clear operating momentum: revenue more than doubled, orders reached 640 million, annual transacting users reached 47.97 million, advertising revenue grew 151%, and adjusted EBITDA loss per order improved materially.
The key shift, therefore, is from a growth-at-scale story to a growth-plus-profitability story.
One important caveat: the June 8, 2026 UDRHP-I had not yet fixed Zepto’s final IPO price band or offer price. The filing also states that the eventual offer price would be determined through the book-building process and should not be treated as an indication of the post-listing market price.
For the unlisted market, the next major variables are therefore the valuation at which Zepto’s pre-IPO financing is ultimately completed, the company’s next financial update, and whether the improved per-order economics continue to narrow the gap toward profitability.