Online food delivery services have long been criticised for giving customers multiple charges but that’s suddenly being brought into focus when the former MP Sumalatha Ambareesh lambasted Swiggy by calling for “excessive and non-transparent pricing.
But the dispute started with the fact that Sumalatha ordered a simple Pongal dish from Rameshwaram Cafe. At just the base cost (₹115), the final bill rose to ₹273 with delivery, packing fees, platform fees or GST and this was way more than the actual food they received.
Sumalatha’s social media platform X drew attention to the unfairness of such prices by people. She wondered why she’d have to pay double what the food is “at the price of anything else” because of these additional charges? She also stressed the need for price transparency, asking the platforms to lay out to customers what is on the list before they even purchase it.
Good morning !
— Sumalatha Ambareesh 🇮🇳 ಸುಮಲತಾ ಅಂಬರೀಶ್ (@sumalathaA) March 27, 2026
Had placed an order on #Swiggy & noticed that they charge more than double the order's actual price . Is this common practise/allowed/ethical ?? I was charged 273 Rs for a 115 Rs item !
@Swiggy@RameshwaramCafe pic.twitter.com/pa8tjsK4lg
Her post went viral and quickly became an issue among users. Customer's experiences were similar, and several of whom said their experience with hidden/unpromoted charges has taken up significant shares from food delivery apps. However, while convenience comes at a high price it often seems the current pricing system is much too pricey.
The incident has reignited the issues of pricing policies in online food delivery providers. As delivery companies provide a service and customers are willing to buy food, they must charge the right price to satisfy that.
However, on the other hand, such platforms have expensive operational expenses at every level for logistics, partner commission and technology resources are incurred; so the cost is included in those costs. But the difficulty in the way the above mentioned charges are applied is also a concern, given that they would make sense to the layperson.
As conversations continue there are growing calls for more regulation and better billing arrangements within the food delivery ecosystem that is more transparent. All in all Sumalatha Ambareesh has an eye open to them in India who are not shy of saying that such are our customers (Males/Women are of course not part of it) to be better regulated and better billing processes for order delivery business.
