India's Zomato posts surprise Q2 profit as people order more food online

CHENNAI, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Indias Zomato (ZOMT.NS) on Friday reported a surprise profit for the second quarter, as consumers ordered more from restaurants and its online grocery stores.

Demand for online food ordering in India has grown in recent years, prompting delivery services providers such as Zomato and rival Swiggy to expand to smaller towns.

Zomato posted a net profit of 360 million rupees ($4.3 million) for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared to analysts expectations of a loss of 201.7 million rupees as per LSEG data.

It had reported a loss of 2.51 billion rupees a year ago.

Zomato has been building its dining-out business - which offers online table booking and discounts at select restaurants - along with events and ticketing platforms, while opening more Blinkit grocery stores.

The efforts helped its revenue from operations, which still mostly comes from its mainstay food delivery business and related fees it charges customers and restaurants, rise over 71% to 28.48 billion rupees.

Order value and revenue could jump in the ongoing festive quarter, which includes Christmas and the Hindu festival of Deepavali, analysts said.

Consumers would also order more during the World Cup in the cricket-crazy country, they added.

Zomatos shares rose 6.9% after results, and were last up nearly 6%.

($1 = 83.2725 Indian rupees)