In a significant development for India’s food delivery ecosystem, Zomato is close to finalising an agreement with the National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) to begin sharing customer data with its restaurant partners.
- Under the proposed deal, Zomato would share customer phone numbers with restaurants, but only after obtaining explicit consent from users.
- NRAI, which represents over 500,000 restaurants in India, has long pushed for data access. For years, restaurants have accused delivery platforms of hiding customer information, arguing that this limits their ability to build meaningful customer relationships.
- According to NRAI’s president, Sagar Daryani, similar discussions are underway with Swiggy, suggesting that this could mark a broader industry shift.
Some risks and concerns are:
- In the past, users reacted negatively to data-sharing attempts, citing concerns over spam. Zomato appears to be addressing this by limiting the scope of shared data and ensuring it’s used only for defined purposes.
- The issue has regulatory overtones: the Competition Commission of India (CCI) is already scrutinising data practices of food delivery aggregators, considering whether they may constitute anti-competitive behaviour.
- Associations like FHRAI (Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India) have previously raised alarms about how platforms might use aggregated partner data to promote their own private-label food brands, potentially undermining independent restaurants.
This potential data-sharing deal could be a watershed moment in the India food delivery market.
