Why is Zomato set to share your contact numbers with restaurants?

Using Zomato? Soon, your number could be shared with the restaurants you order from.

The development comes after a decade-long dispute between the food delivery platform and the National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI).

There are reports that Swiggy and other platforms may also follow suit. However, customers and privacy advocates are crying foul.

But what do we know? How will customers be impacted, and what are the concerns?

Let’s take a closer look.

Zomato to share data with restaurants

According to reports, the delivery platform owned by Eternal Ltd is in the final stages of talks with the NRAI, which represents five lakh restaurants and cloud kitchens across the country, to share information about customers, including their phone numbers and perhaps even their names and locations.

However, according to reports, this will only be done after the users give their consent to do so.

Zomato has said that the programme is currently in its pilot phase. The NRAI has said that Zomato will begin sending users one-time notifications asking if they agree to their data being shared.

There are reports that some users are getting the prompt “Share my phone number” or “Do not share my phone number”. The prompt also mentions that once your information is shared, it cannot be taken back.

“The wording they are proposing is: I allow restaurants to reach out to me for promotional activities,” an NRAI representative was quoted as saying by CNBC.

‘Win-win’

Restaurants have long argued that these delivery platforms cut them off from their customer base. This development will help them better understand their customers and their consumption patterns and allow them to build a better long-term relationship with the consumer, they claim.

They say this move will allow them to offer consumers a far superior experience and solve issues that cannot be addressed adequately through online aggregator platforms. For example, if there is a problem with the order or if the restaurant wants to confirm some detail with the customer, they will now have the ability to reach out to them directly, Gauri Devidayal, partner at Food Matters, told The Times of India.

The industry body had earlier filed a complaint before the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against Zomato, India’s largest food aggregator by volume, and Swiggy, complaining of anti-competitive practices, data masking and a lack of transparency when it comes to customers.

Sagar Daryani, the president at NRAI, told Times of India, “As of now, we don’t know how often a customer is ordering on Zomato and Swiggy. In a way, we are blind-sighted and our marketing costs are not funnelled properly. When a customer walks into our offline store, we get all the data.”

The NRAI has said Zomato is yet to begin sharing the data and that the company is still working out a method of doing so.

“We at Zomato are in the early stages of launching a feature on the app which gives customers the option to opt in to receive marketing and promotional updates directly from restaurants. If and when consent is provided, only phone number will be shared with the restaurant. No other information will be shared. There’s nothing sneaky or automatic about it,” Aditya Mangla, CEO of food delivery at Zomato, wrote on LinkedIn.

Worries about data leak, privacy

However, many are worried about their sensitive data being shared and their privacy being breached.

They also worry that some may misuse the data to bombard the customer with notifications and pop-ups.

Some high-profile individuals have already taken to social media demanding the government step in. For example, author Suhel Seth called the development “totally bloody unacceptable”.

“I hope the Government doesn’t allow this AT ALL. Next, they will share our food habits with all and sundry!” he added.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora added, “So, @zomato & @Swiggy plan to share customer mobile numbers with restaurants. This opens the door to privacy risks & further spam under the guise of ‘better service’. We need clear, unambiguous opt-in guidelines, in line with the new #DPDP Rules, so consumers’ data is respected.”

Swiggy to follow suit?

The NRAI has also said it is in talks with Zomato rival Swiggy to similarly share data. The industry body said it hopes Swiggy will also “follow suit”. Ownly, Rapido’s new food delivery service, has also reportedly come on board to do so.

Zomato lists around 327,000 monthly active restaurants while Swiggy lists about 264,000 on its platform.

As per Statista, the online food delivery market revenue is projected to reach USD 54.97 billion (Rs. 4.87 lakh crore) in 2025.

Revenue is expected to show a compound annual growth rate (CAGR 2025–2030) of 13.26 per cent, resulting in a projected market volume of $102.43 billion (Rs. 9.08 lakh crore) by 2030, reports Business Standard.

With Inputs from agencies