Zomato on Sunday said the auditor of its subsidiaries Zomato Hyperpure and Blink Commerce has resigned with immediate effect, paving the way for the food tech platform’s auditor Deloitte Haskins & Sells to be appointed in its place to make the audit process more efficient.
Batliboi & Associates, who was appointed as statutory auditors of the two wholly-owned subsidiaries for five years beginning April 1, 2023, till the conclusion of the 13th AGM, resigned w.e.f. May 12, 2024, Zomato said in a regulatory filing.
“Further to our various discussions and email dated May 8, 2024, from the Global Controller Finance, Zomato Limited, we understand that the holding company’s management wants to align the statutory auditor of the company with the auditors of the holding company responsible for the audit of consol accounts to avoid some duplication and bring some efficiencies in the audit process at group level,” Batliboi & Associates stated.
In the regulatory filing, Zomato informed that the reason for resignation is to allow for the appointment of the current statutory auditor of the company, Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP, as the statutory auditor of Zomato Hyperpure Private Limited (ZHPL) and Blink Commerce Private Limited (BCPL) as well, to make the audit process more efficient.
The Zomato’s board is slated to meet on Monday to consider and approve the results for the fourth quarter and financial year ended March 2024.
Zomato’s gross order value during the December quarter across businesses such as Hyperpure, Blinkit and food delivery grew 13 per cent sequentially to ₹12,886 crore. For Blinkit, gross order value grew at over 100 per cent year-on-year.
Zomato in April hiked its platform fee by 25 per cent to ₹5 per order from ₹4 in select markets, citing it as a part of business calls taken by the food tech giant.
Notably, the food delivery platform has received various tax demand orders aggregating to ₹227.85 crore since March 15, separate regulatory filings showed.
In February, Zomato reported a consolidated net profit of ₹138 crore for the December quarter.
PTI