Indian logistics firm Delhivery has publicly contested the accuracy of metrics presented by competitor Ecom Express in its draft initial public offering prospectus, a rare confrontation in the lead-up to the latter’s market debut.
Delhivery, which is backed by SoftBank and already publicly listed, claims that Ecom Express has inaccurately represented Delhivery’s business metrics when drawing comparisons in its IPO filing.
The 442-page draft prospectus (PDF) submitted by Ecom Express last month reported that the startup had shipped 514.41 million packages in the fiscal year ending March 2024, while Delhivery handled 740 million during the same period.
Delhivery alleged in a filing to the stock exchanges Friday that this comparison is flawed, asserting that what it considers a single shipment is counted as two by its rivals, suggesting that Ecom Express’s volume figures are potentially inflated. (Delhivery says that its rivals count an order returned as two shipments.)
Delhivery further contests Ecom Express’s cost per shipment (CPS) calculations, citing disparities in accounting methods and alleging inflated shipment figures.
The SoftBank-backed firm also pointed out that Ecom Express’ claim to be offering its service in 27,000 zipcodes isn’t accurate as India has fewer than 19,000 unique zip codes.
A slide from Delhivery’s filing Friday. (Image: Delhivery/BSE)
This public dispute comes less than a month after Ecom Express, which counts Warburg Pincus, Partners Group, and British International Investment among its backers, filed for an IPO aiming to raise $310 million.
Delhivery has also questioned Ecom Express’s presentation of service EBITDA and corporate costs, citing a lack of consistent definitions for these metrics in the prospectus.
Ecom Express didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is a developing story. More to follow.