Zepto’s co-founder and chief executive, Aadit Palicha, acknowledged that the company’s earlier use of what critics described as dark patterns had been an error, stating that the practices had already been removed. His comments were made during an extensive interview with Forbes India, in which he addressed criticism over delivery charges, product handling, and operational lapses that had drawn considerable public attention.
The 23-year-old founder said plainly that the changes had been mistaken and confirmed that they had since been reversed. Allegations against the quick-commerce platform had covered a wide list of concerns, including concealed charges, selective pricing, manipulated MRPs, unclear discounting, and other issues. The discontent had grown to the point that a Reddit community had formed dedicated to documenting complaints about the app.
Contributors on the forum had listed numerous fees they believed were excessive, arguing that customers were being confronted with multiple add-ons apart from the standard delivery charge. Those included a so-called ‘Rain Fee’ followed by a GST component, a Rs 10 ‘Cash Handling Fee’, ‘Item Handling Cost’, ‘Convenience Fee’, ‘Small Cart Fee’, ‘Processing Fee’ and similar additions. These complaints became a central part of the debate around transparency on the platform.
Palicha, in the interview, spoke at length about how the company approached delivery-related pricing. “I think we ran experiments on delivery fees and pricing—we tried different approaches and figured things out,” he said, explaining that the outcome had led the company to reconsider its strategy. He also noted that public response had been strong and in many cases justified. “A lot of it wasn’t received well on social media or by consumers, and honestly, much of the feedback was valid,” he said.
He stressed that the adjustments were not made due to any intervention by authorities. “There wasn’t any regulatory angle to it—it had nothing to do with government intervention. We just felt it wasn’t the right thing for consumers. The feedback was negative so we voluntarily decided to roll it back. Within 45–60 days, we had addressed it and moved on,” he said.
Palicha differentiated between the pricing issues and complaints about expired items. “Things like the expired product issue were a bit blown out of proportion. But the dark patterns concern was something we genuinely could have solved—and we did. I’ll be candid: It was a mistake. We killed it. It won’t happen again,” he said.
Earlier this month, Zepto withdrew handling charges, surge-based levies, and convenience fees as part of a revised policy.
The CEO also commented on the temporary suspension of Zepto’s Dharavi warehouse licence by Maharashtra’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The inspection in June had raised concerns including fungal contamination on food packets, expired products being kept with fresh stock, cold-chain shortcomings, and hygiene deficiencies. Palicha said the situation had been misinterpreted. “The expired product that people were talking about in one of our stores wasn’t actually in the sellable section,” he said.
He explained that every warehouse separated usable products from expired stock. “In our stores, we have a sellable section and a non-sellable section. The non-sellable section is where we move products that have expired. What happened was someone took a photo of the non-sellable section, the expired bin, and claimed it was being sold to customers. But that wasn’t the case,” he said, adding that it had been “more of a media thing.”
He said that once the FDA reviewed the warehouse again, along with checks across multiple facilities in Maharashtra, Zepto’s procedures were found to be compliant. The affected site resumed operations within a few days.
A company statement said that the organisation was working closely with authorities and reviewing its practices internally. It added: “Maintaining the highest standards of food safety and hygiene is non-negotiable. We are committed to rectifying the lapses identified and strengthening our processes to provide the safest quality of products.”
Palicha also revisited the pricing conversation later in the interview. “We ran experiments on delivery fees and pricing… a lot of the feedback was valid. The negative feedback made us realise this isn’t who we are. So we killed it. It’s been gone for a while now,” he said.
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