COVID-19 | Zomato starts vaccinating delivery partners

Zomato anticipates an increase in expenses and the losses may continue.

Online food ordering firm Zomato has started vaccinating its delivery partners and employees for COVID-19, the company said on March 21.

The vaccination drive has been going on for the last one week in Delhi NCR and will start in Mumbai and Bengaluru from May 22. Over 150,000 frontline staff and employees will be covered under this program.

"Thousands of our delivery partners are already vaccinated," Deepinder Goyal, founder and chief executive officer said in a Tweet on the microblogging site.

"While we set up camps in various other cities over the next few days, we are also encouraging our delivery partners to get vaccinated on their own. We are more than covering for the cost – we are 'incentivising' our delivery partners to find a slot in their vicinity asap," he added.

The company will also start updating the vaccination status of its delivery partners on its app.

Zomato is all set for an initial public offering this year. Last month, it filed a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with market regulator SEBI to raise around Rs 8,250 crore via this IPO.

Rival Swiggy has also started vaccinating its delivery partners earlier this week.