Indian logistics company Delhivery has publicly challenged the accuracy of metrics provided by rival Ecom Express in its draft prospectus for its initial public offering, a rare clash ahead of the latter’s market debut.
Delhivery, which is backed by SoftBank and already listed, claims that Ecom Express misrepresented Delhivery's business metrics when making a comparison in its IPO application.
According to a 442-page draft prospectus (PDF) submitted by Ecom Express last month, the startup delivered 514.41 million packages in the financial year ended March 2024, while Delhivery handled 740 million packages during the same period.
Delhivery argued in a stock exchange filing on Friday that the comparison was incorrect, suggesting that Ecom Express's volume figures were potentially inflated as the competitor counted what it considered a single shipment as two. Delhivery said the competitor counted return orders as two shipments.
Delhivery also criticised Ecom Express's cost per carriage (CPS) calculations, citing differences in accounting methods and claiming that the carriage figures were inflated.
The SoftBank-backed company said Ecom Express's claim that it serves 27,000 postal codes is incorrect, as India has fewer than 19,500 unique postal codes.
The public spat comes less than a month after Ecom Express, which counts Warburg Pincus, Partners Group and British International Investment as backers, filed for an IPO that aimed to raise $310 million.
Delhivery also questioned the way Ecom Express presented its service EBITDA and corporate expenses, noting that there was no consistent definition of these metrics in the prospectus.
Ecom Express did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
