“They started to feel nervous”: Zepto’s Aadit Palicha claims dirty tricks with a competitor’s financing

The fast trade war in India only turned.

Zepto Coftence Aadit Palicha has publicly accused the financial manager of a competitor to manage a coordinated swab campaign to discredit the rapid start -up reputation. In the LinkedIn post, which is not celebrated, Palicha claimed that the competitive financial manager had circulated wrong data to investors and journalists and on social media-with the help of the agent sources and even the driven robots.

“This episode is less than the status of the financial manager of Al -Hedya Company,” Balisha wrote, claiming that the attack reflects nervousness to improve financial statements. “They are interested in the speed that Ebitda improves.”

According to Palicha, the relevant financial manager shares “wild allegations” not backed by facts and go beyond the distribution of Excel Dortored papers to media members. He said that Zubato has now chosen the advertisement as a “preventive” step in the event of the start of misleading stories.

The startup company supported its defense with new performance data: the value of the monthly total demand (GOV) increased from 750 rupees in May 2024 to 2,400 rupees in May 2025.

EBITDA improved by 2000 basis points in just five months, and the company’s burning of the company decreased by 65 % during the same period. Zepto claims a growth of 4 to 5 % over a month, adding up to 20 % of the jump in the government since January.

The majority of its dark stores are expected to be positive EBITDA by the next quarter, and at the level of the company, it is said that both Ebitda and the operating cash flow near Breakeven. Zepto also claimed that he had 7,445 rupees in the net criticism – he was reconciled with banking data – which he proposes to what Palicha described as “many years of the runway.”

With the confrontation of speculation about the closure of stores, Palicha insisted that Zepto is not subject to any wide range of rationalization and actually enhances the launch of new dark stores. He also used the moment to emphasize the startups of the startup governance, pointing to the best payment systems in their class, reviewing sellers, checking material assets, and a clean record in the legal audit operations that the four large companies He said that previous care exercises did not find any material violations.

Although Palicha did not name the financial manager or the competing company, the allegations come at a time when competition in the rapid trade sector in India is increasing. Zepto was imprisoned in a battle with Blinkit (owned by Zomato), Swiggy Instaart, and Flipkart minutes in the sector that grew more than five times since 2022. Report in March 2025 from Bain & Company and Flipkart connecting the market size in 6 to 7 dollars, which is more than two orders E-Retail last year.

But the mutation came at a very slope cost. From early in 2025, Blinkit, Instaart and Zepto were collectively burning from 1,300 to 1500 crores per month, as Zepto is the largest piece, according to The Economic Times.