"Wish Swiggy, Zomato...": Restaurateur Zorawar Kalra On Impact Of GST 2.0

At the NDTV Profit GST Conclave on Tuesday, 9 September, Zorawar Kalra, founder of Massive Restaurants and Vice-President of the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), flagged concerns about how food aggregators price restaurant food and delivery. Kalra warned that restaurants should be free to set their own prices and offer direct incentives to customers, rather than being bound by platform-imposed parity rules.

Kalra said, "I wish the platforms would let us do our own pricing. They always ask for parity, or both platforms ask - 'don't sell the food yourself'."

He added, "I think it is the prerogative of the restaurant; the restaurant should get to decide. If I want to give you an extra little voucher for a free cocktail or a free starter next time, and you come, I should be able to do that. So, platforms don't necessarily allow that."

Kalra also addressed how the new GST rules will affect the cost of ordering in. From 22 September 2025, delivery fees charged by platforms will attract 18 per cent GST, in addition to the existing 5 per cent GST on food orders - a change that could make aggregator-led orders marginally costlier compared with restaurants that run their own delivery networks.

Also Read: Food Delivery Apps vs Restaurant's Own Delivery: How GST 2.0 Will Affect Your Bill

He argued that food delivery platforms were not directly competing with restaurants, but rather with the home kitchen. "It is cheaper for you today to order food in than to make it yourself. The delivery side of India is not competing with restaurants. It's competing with your home kitchen," he said.

On the broader GST reforms, Kalra called the changes a potential growth and consumption accelerator. He said, "I think any reduction in complexity, any reduction in tax rates would put more money in the hands of the consumers and that will funnel its way down to us. The good thing is, Indians love eating out more than any other form of entertainment. The Indian F&B sector is 40 times larger than Bollywood, and Indians spend almost 40 per cent of their gross disposable income on eating out. So, we will probably be a direct beneficiary of added money in the hands of the consumer."

Kalra noted one important caveat for restaurants: they do not always benefit from input tax credit (ITC). He explained that ITC allows businesses to reduce their GST liability by claiming credits for tax already paid on business purchases, and that wider access to ITC would help the long-term survival of restaurants, Kalra said.