NRAI to approach CCI over "private labelling" by Zomato, Swiggy

The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), which represents half a million eateries nationwide, said it will approach Competition Commission of India over "private labelling" by Zomato and Swiggy and their foray into quick commerce food delivery via Bistro by Blinkit and Snacc, respectively.

In an interview to PTI, NRAI President Sagar Daryani raised concerns over "anti-competitive" practices of food delivery aggregators, "data masking" and "deep discounting".

"We will be adding to our petition in CCI about them (Zomato, Swiggy) doing private labels through Bistro and Snacc," Daryani shared.

He said NRAI will also request CCI to investigate complaints received from its member restaurants that Zomato and Swiggy were procuring from third party commercial kitchens for Zomato Everyday and Swiggy Daily.

Queries sent to Swiggy and Zomato remained unanswered.

Daryani said NRAI was "very concerned" as many restaurants were already shutting down with several workers losing their livelihoods.

Addressing an NRAI townhall with restaurant industry stakeholders on Wednesday, Daryani suggested that restaurants need to look at a "third alternative" like ONDC and could replicate the success achieved through a pilot in Bengaluru, throughout India.

"We have to look at a third alternative now whether that is ONDC or something else.. We have to step up the gas in working towards that... We had a meeting with ONDC yesterday. In a city like Bengaluru, 20 per cent of the orders come via ONDC. It is not a bad start. Why can't we replicate what happened in Bengaluru for the rest of the country".

During the townhall, top restaurateurs raised concerns over the entry of food delivery aggregators like Zomato and Swiggy into private labelling and dining-in, and stressed the need for alternatives in the market.