Eternal vs Swiggy: Who fared better in Q4FY26 earnings?

Shares of India’s leading food delivery and quick commerce platform, Swiggy Ltd, were in focus on Monday after the company declared its Q4 and FY26 results on Friday during post-market hours. The share price fell nearly 6% to hit an intraday low of ₹261 apiece on the NSE. The company posted broadly flat results, with no major improvements in financials over the previous quarter. The quick commerce business continues to remain EBITDA negative, which remains a key overhang for the company. Here is how Swiggy’s results fared against Eternal’s Q4FY26 performance.

Topline growth

Swiggy’s Q4FY26 consolidated revenue jumped 45% YoY to ₹6,383 crore as against ₹4,410 crore. Whereas, Eternal’s Q4FY26 revenue jumped 196% YoY to ₹17,292 crore for the same period. Eternal’s major topline growth is derived from the quick commerce platform Blinkit, which recently shifted to an inventory model. Eternal outperformed Swiggy on a consolidated basis as its quick commerce platform is firing on all cylinders and delivering exponential growth. Whereas Swiggy’s Instamart’s adjusted revenue jumped over 30% compared to a multifold jump in Blinkit.

Quick commerce battle

Quick commerce segment remains the key growth driver for the new-age platform. However, Blinkit’s shift to inventory-based revenue paints a wrong comparison with swiggy, which continues to hold commissions and delivery fees as revenue. The gross order value may provide a better and fair like-for-like comparison. Blinkit’s gross order value for the quarter stood at ₹14,386 crore, which is roughly 2x the order value of Swiggy’s Instamart at ₹7,881 crore. Despite equivalent comparison, Eternal continues to maintain a dominant position in the listed quick commerce segment. Additionally, Blinkit also continues to remain EBITDA positive with ₹37 crore operating profit vs ₹4 crore in the previous quarter. Whereas Swiggy’s Instamart remains EBITDA negative at ₹858 crore, narrower from ₹908 crore in the previous quarter.

Cash reserves: War chest for future growth

The future growth of these new-age platforms is largely derived from how much they can outspend their peer by acquiring new users, expanding to different geographies and product categories. Company which holds cash reserves and continues to add more to it via generating positive cash flow will dominate the sector in the long run. As of FY26, Eternal continues to hold a cash balance of ₹17,972 crore as compared to ₹17,820 crore in Q3FY26. Whereas Swiggy holds a cash balance of ₹15,053 crore as compared to ₹13,512 crore, much of which is propped up by the divestment of a stake worth ₹2,399 crore in bike-taxi platform Rapido. As Swiggy continues to remain a loss-making company, it continues to burn reserves for its current and future growth, as compared to its rival, Eternal, which is now a profitable company.