Zomato to discontinue food ordering service in UAE; app users will be redirected to Talabat

Food delivery aggregator Zomato on November 14 said it would be discontinuing food ordering service via its application for users in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

From November 24, users of the app will be redirected to online food ordering company Talabat, to which Zomato sold its UAE-based food delivery business in 2019, a regulatory filing stated.

After selling the UAE-based business, Zomato had been rendering services to Talabat in return for cost reimbursement.

"The company will discontinue rendering of services to Talabat in the UAE with effect from November 24, 2022 and the customers looking to order food through the Zomato app in UAE will be redirected to Talabat, as per the terms of the agreement between the parties," Zomato informed the stock exchanges.

The discontinuation will not have any material impact on the financials and operations of the company, it added.  Zomato "will continue to offer restaurant discovery and dining-out services in the UAE", the filing further said.

The announcement comes months after Zomato chief executive officer Deepinder Goyal said the company would only focus on its operations in India.

"International business does not fit into our roadmap anymore. Not at all," Goyal had said while speaking to CNBC TV18 on July 12.

Zomato had marked its exit as a food delivery company from all international markets in November 2021, when it decided to pull out from Lebanon.

The company had, earlier, pulled down the shutters on its operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Singapore.