According to sources, most of the hiring was driven by the expansion of Instamart, Swiggy’s quick commerce business, which added around 100 cities to its network during fiscal 2025. The company’s total headcount as of March 31, 2024, was 5,406, according to the data from Swiggy’s draft red herring prospectus (DRHP).
“Instamart continued its rapid expansion in FY 2024-25, reflecting strong consumer adoption and growing relevance across categories, geographies, and shopping missions. We expanded our footprint to 124 cities, increasing coverage nearly five-fold year-on-year. The network grew to 1,021 stores by year-end, including 498 new dark stores added during the year, of which 44 were larger-format megapods designed to support broader assortment and higher average order values,” the company said in its annual report.
With the growing headcount, the company’s employee benefit expenses also increased by 26.6% during FY25 to Rs 2,548 crore.
Its revenue from operations stood at Rs 15,227 crore for FY25, a 35% increase from the Rs 11,247 crore reported in the previous year. Meanwhile, its net loss widened to Rs 3,117 crore from Rs 2,350 crore in FY24.
Swiggy’s share rose 1.61% on Tuesday to close at Rs 413.55 on the BSE. The Bengaluru-based company is expected to declare its Q1FY26 financials on July 31.
Signs of profitability
Swiggy noted in its annual report that Instamart is seeing early profitability in several key markets. “Instamart is gaining strong momentum across consumer segments, categories, and cities – with early profitability already visible in several key markets,” the company said.
“With nearly half our dark stores less than a year old, we’re now shifting gears — from rapid expansion to consolidation and leverage,” it added.
The outlook on Instamart’s profitability comes at a time when the quick commerce space is reeling with heavy losses on account of dark store expansion.
“The groundwork is in place, and the road ahead is focussed on optimising utilisation, boosting efficiency, and unlocking deeper value through smarter infrastructure and sharper assortment,” Swiggy said.
For FY2025, Instamart received 285.5 million orders as against 175.5 million orders received the year before. Similarly, the average monthly transacting users also increased to 7.1 million in FY25 from 4.2 million in FY24.
