Zomato, Swiggy Down: Can't Order Food via Food Delivery Apps Today? Know the Reason

Food delivery apps Zomato and Swiggy reported a brief nationwide outage on Wednesday that appeared to have been caused by an Amazon Web Services snag that many online platforms rely on.

Users took to the microblogging site Twitter and said the app was not functioning and that they were unable to place orders.

Replying to a customer’s complaint, Zomato Care acknowledged the outage and apologised for the inconvenience.

“Hi there, we are facing a temporary glitch. Please be assured our team is working on this and we will be up and running soon,” Zomato said on Twitter acknowledging the issue.

People shared screenshots of the Zomato app not working, with many complaining that money was deducted from their accounts.

“We’re currently unable to process your request as we’re experiencing technical constraints. Not to worry, our best minds are on it and we’ll be up and running soon,” Swiggy tweeted.

The two platforms – valued at around $10 billion each – dominate India’s online food delivery market in a duopoly that only this week attracted the attention of India’s antitrust watchdog.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Monday said it had ordered an investigation of the apps offered by both companies to verify if they were “neutral”, news agency Reuters reported.

The order came months after the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) asked the CCI to investigate the companies for breaching platform neutrality by providing priority to exclusive contractors.

The NRAI, which represents over 500,000 restaurants across the country, had asked the CCI to investigate the two companies for allegedly providing priority to some eateries.

The association has also alleged that the two firms provide discounts after charging “exorbitant commissions” from restaurants.

The CCI said the companies’ agreements with restaurants could create “entry barriers for new platforms, without accruing any benefit to the consumers”.

Last month, after Zomato founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal announced the online food delivery service provider’s plans to deliver food to customers in record 10 minutes, there was a huge backlash online, with many pointing out that waiting for 30 minutes for good food should not be a problem at all and that the express delivery service puts the safety of delivery agents.

Goyal came out with a detailed clarification the next day, stressing that safety of delivery agents will remain a priority even with the instant service.

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