'Daylight Robbery': Man flag differs between online and offline food prices in the same hotel; Viral Post Sparks Debate

A social media post recently became viral on the platform X, where an online food delivery service shared his experience to become ‘81%’ more online than he had to pay from the same restaurant for the same order. The user named Sunder shared a post on Sunday night in which the online food delivery platform SWIGGY is asked about why it asks significantly higher for the same list of food items available for a much cheaper rate at the restaurant. In his post, Sunder shared a list of four items, claiming that Swiggy charged him 81% more, or £ 66, more than the actual prices of the items when purchased directly from the physical restaurant. He also questioned whether this higher price reflects the ‘real cost of ease’ of people ordering online. ‘Hey @swiggy, please explain. Why order food in the app, 81% last as buying the same food at the same exhaust valve, just 2 km away. Is this the actual cost of comfort? The extra I have to pay to have the food delivered is INR 663, ‘says Sunder in his post. Netizens responded since this post was shared on social media on Sunday, it has received more than two million views. As of Monday, September 8, the post received more than 29,000 likes, 6.200 recurrence and more than 3.700 remarks from Netizens. Some people support online food delivery businesses, while others their perspective part of companies that charge higher prices and higher margins. ‘This is his business. His pricing model. I’m tired of people crying. Pay the premium, or go get it or get it yourself, ‘says a user named @dialoguedojo who responds to the post. ‘Do you want to pay less. Get the food or call the restaurant and manage the delivery part yourself. ‘ There were also some accounts that commented on restaurants that had lower costs due to no delivery manager, no platform, including the revenue going directly to the business. “Why do you want swiggy and zomato to work for free?” said @trolling_isart in their answer. “If you go to a restaurant yourself, there is no delivery man, no platform, nothing. So all the money goes directly to the restaurant. ‘ In the midst of contrary opinions, Varun Bansal, a user, said that online food delivery applications began abusing their clients with higher costs. “These food delivery programs and fast trade have started abusing customers with the cost of every increase in fees,” says Bansal. “Daylight robbery!” said @lakshmianand96 in her reply. Another user named Rohit Agarwal said: “This is the price we pay for the comfort and most important of the habit. These guys from home delivery managed to create a habit. When they started, they gave unreasonable discounts and free delivery and when we got used to their service, they started looting.” Online ordering can become more expensive online orders from e-commerce platforms such as swiggy, zomato and shining, may soon become more expensive. Under the revamped GST regime, effective September 22, 2025, businesses will have to pay 18% tax on goods and services (GST) on their delivery services. The GST Council of the Central Government, after its 56th meeting on September 3, 2025, announced that e-commerce platforms and fast trade will have to pay 18% GST on delivery costs that will pay on September 22, 2025, as part of the revamped GST structure. Although the businesses have not officially confirmed that delivery costs will rise, recent media reports suggest that these extra 18% costs can be passed on to customers to prevent a loss of operations. Delivery costs are a major expense for online delivery companies such as Swiggy, Zomato, Zepto and Blinkit. Mint reported earlier, referring to an example of how a customer ordered food worth almost £ 500 from one of the Indian online food delivery platforms, the customer had already paid a restaurant GST of nearly £ 88, along with a nearly £ 15 platform fee, including GST, top of the packaging costs. If businesses decide to pass on the effect of the 18% GST on delivery services, people who order online will pay more taxes for their delivery costs in front of their door.