Zomato's slim ad-spend sets marketing benchmark for firms seeking to list

Despite the frugal ad spends, Zomato's IPO managed to generate bids worth Rs 2.1 trillion

Food delivery company Zomato has managed to ride on Dalal Street by spending just 0.1 per cent of its initial public offering (IPO) proceeds of Rs 9,375 crore. According to the final prospectus, the company has spent just Rs 9 crore on “printing and stationery expenses, advertising and marketing expenses for the offer and fees payable to the legal counsels". Of this, the total advertising spend could be just Rs 5 crore, say industry participants.

In percentage terms, this is among the lowest-ever. To put the number in context, Kalyan Jewellers, which came out with an IPO earlier this year, spent