How to dispute a Swiggy deduction: evidence, where to raise it, timelines

By Raghav R · 16 October 2026

Most restaurants lose money on Swiggy not through one big error but through small deductions nobody challenges: a commission charged on the wrong base, an offer you never approved, a cancelled order that wasn't compensated. Each is small. Across a year, they add up.

This guide covers the five disputes restaurants raise most often, the evidence that makes each one hard to refuse, where to raise it, and what Swiggy's own terms say about timelines. Where something isn't written in a public Swiggy document, we say so.

What Swiggy's terms allow it to deduct

Swiggy's Merchant Terms let it deduct four things from what customers pay: service fees (including on "Disputed Orders"), "Other Charges" listed in its Schedule of Charges, GST and other taxes on them, and amounts due under any other agreement with you (clause XXIV.3). Your service fee rate is whatever your MoU or letter of understanding says (clause XXIV.2).

The Schedule of Charges on that page lists a call centre service fee, a penalty for merchant cancellations, refunds for disputed orders, marketing fees "as and when service is availed", and "Merchant Protection" payments to you for customer cancellations (clause XXV). Swiggy can revise these charges "with prior intimation" (clause XXV). No fixed notice period is stated.

Settlement is weekly: orders served Sunday to Saturday are paid on or before Wednesday of the following week, or the next working day after a bank holiday (clause XXIV.6).

That gives you the test for every deduction: is it in your MoU, in the Schedule of Charges, or in a service you knowingly signed up for? If not, ask Swiggy to show where it comes from.

Before you raise anything: rebuild the payout

A dispute is only as strong as your working. Recompute the week from your contract rates, as in our line-by-line Swiggy payout guide, and list every line that differs. Then build an evidence pack:

Your MoU or LoU, and any later commercial emails or addenda.
The payout annexure and Swiggy's invoice for the week.
Your POS records for the same orders: order ID, KOT time, food-ready time, handover time.
Screenshots of offer and ad settings (dates, budgets, who funds what).
Photos of packed orders at handover, if you take them.

Group the claim by issue: one ticket listing 40 orders with the same error is easier to approve than 40 tickets.

The five common disputes

1. Wrong commission

What to check. The rate against your MoU, and the base it's applied to. In August 2024 Swiggy told some partners it would charge its service fee "on the gross value of each order", which the Economic Times reported includes GST and packaging (ET). If your MoU says otherwise, the MoU is your evidence.

Evidence. The rate clause, five or ten orders recomputed both ways, and the total difference for the week.

2. An offer you didn't approve

In August 2026, Bengaluru restaurant associations alleged that promotions were sometimes switched on without consent and asked for opt-in promotions (The News Minute). Swiggy's public Merchant Terms page did not contain a general consent rule for delivery offers that we could find, so your MoU and your own records carry the argument.

Evidence. The offer's start date and funding split as shown in the Partner app, any email or app approval you gave (or the absence of one), and the restaurant-funded discount lines it produced.

3. Long-distance fee

The Bangalore Hotels Association's August 2026 letter to Swiggy listed a long-distance fee among charges it wanted removed (The News Minute). There is no long-distance line in the public Schedule of Charges (Swiggy Merchant Terms), so if it appears on your payout, it should trace to your MoU or a written notice.

Evidence. The notice or addendum that introduced it (ask for it if you have none), and the per-order charges.

4. Unpaid or under-paid orders

The terms set out several cases:

Customer cancels. Within one minute of ordering, you're paid nothing. After that, if the order was picked up, you're paid 100% of gross value less fees. If it wasn't picked up, 80% of gross value less fees if you marked food ready and were "MFR compliant" the previous week, otherwise 40% of net value (Schedule of Charges, "Merchant Protection for Cancellation").
You don't confirm in time. An order not confirmed within 6 minutes of being relayed, after Swiggy has tried calling, is treated as a merchant cancellation (clause VIII.12(xiv)(a)).
Merchant cancellation penalty. If merchant-rejected orders exceed 0.5% of weekly volume, a penalty of 10% of their net order value applies; above 2%, 25% (Schedule of Charges).
Customer refunds. For "Disputed Orders" (wrong or missing items, quality, packaging and similar reasons attributable to you), Swiggy pays nothing and can recover the refund up to the order value (clauses VIII.7 and XXIV.1(v)).

Evidence. Accept and food-ready timestamps, rider pickup time, handover photos, and your weekly rejection count. If an order was picked up and cancelled, the claim is for the full amount.

5. Ad overspend

Marketing fees are charged "as and when service is availed" (Schedule of Charges). Swiggy's Self Serve Ads tool lets you set campaign days and control spend (Swiggy blog). So a charge above your budget, or after a campaign's end date, should be refundable.

Evidence. Campaign settings (budget, dates), the ad lines on the annexure, and the difference.

Where to raise it

The Swiggy Partner app. Swiggy's onboarding page directs restaurants to the Swiggy Owner App (partner.swiggy.com). Raise payout issues from its help or support section. Menu names change, so we won't give a click path.
Email partnersupport@swiggy.in. The Merchant Terms say that if you notice "any discrepancy in the settlement of Collections", you may raise a ticket by emailing this address (clause XXI). Swiggy's grievance policy lists the same address for restaurant partners (Swiggy policy).
Your Swiggy account manager, if you have one, copied on the email.
Formal dispute. A dispute the parties can't settle within 30 days goes to a sole arbitrator, venue Bangalore, under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (clause XIX). Take advice before going this far.

Timelines: what's written and what isn't

Step	What the terms say
Settlement	Weekly, Sun–Sat orders paid by the following Wednesday (XXIV.6)
Resolution of a settlement discrepancy ticket	"Mutually resolved... within 15 days from the date on which the ticket was raised" (XXI)
Support hours listed with the notice address	9.30 AM to 5.30 PM, Monday to Friday (XXI)
Escalation to arbitration	If unresolved within 30 days (XIX)
Deadline to raise a dispute	Not stated in the public terms. It may vary by contract or category; check your MoU and the Partner app

Since there's no published cut-off, raise within the week you spot the issue.

A sample dispute message (sample figures only)

Subject: Settlement discrepancy, Restaurant ID [your ID], week 4–10 Oct 2026

Our MoU sets the service fee at [rate] on [base]. For 212 orders this week, the fee was applied to the gross value including GST and packaging. Recomputed on the MoU base, the overcharge is ₹940 plus GST (sample figure). The order-level working is attached. Please refund the difference in the next settlement and confirm the base going forward.

Keep it to one issue, one number and one attachment.

FAQ

Is there a deadline for disputing a Swiggy deduction? The public Merchant Terms set a 15-day resolution target once a ticket is raised, but no deadline to raise one. Check your MoU and raise it promptly.

Can Swiggy deduct a refund it gave a customer? For refunds attributable to you, yes, up to the order value. If the order was correct, dispute it with your handover evidence.

Should I reverse the deduction in my books while the dispute is open? Book what was actually deducted, and track the claim separately until Swiggy confirms. See our Tally guide and Tally for restaurants.

Let disputes draft themselves

OnPlusOne is an early-stage Bengaluru startup building an AI agent that reconciles Swiggy and Zomato payouts against your POS and bank every day, flags deductions that don't match your contract, and drafts the dispute for your approval. It is a working prototype, piloting in Bengaluru. Try the live demo, or read more about Swiggy and Zomato reconciliation.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Platform terms change; check your own contract.