India, Aug. 6 -- On August 2, Urban Company cofounder and CEO Abhiraj Singh Bhal announced that the company's instant housekeeping service, InstaHelp, had crossed 1 Lakh daily delivered orders. Hot on the heels of his announcement, rival Snabbit said it had reached a similar milestone, completing 1.15 Lakh jobs in a day.

Yet, the more interesting part of both announcements wasn't the milestone. Instead of celebrating growth, both companies devoted a significant part of their updates to burn per order, neighborhood density, contribution margins and customer willingness to pay. Sources told Inc42 that Pronto, too, has reduced its monthly cash burn to below $3 Mn from $8 Mn last year. Pronto is currently doing around 50,000-60,000 orders pe...