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Gig Workers’ New Year’s Eve Strike Collides With Incentive Push as Platforms Tout Record Orders

Company claims of normal operations complicate efforts to leverage the walkout.

Zomato and Swiggy have reportedly offered increased incentives to their delivery partners as a standard practice during festive seasons.
The union has placed five key demands before platform companies.
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Commuters ride along a street in Varanasi, India, on December 10.

Overview

  • Zomato and Swiggy lifted New Year’s Eve payouts, with Zomato offering ₹120–₹150 per peak order and up to ₹3,000 a day, and Swiggy advertising up to ₹2,000 in peak-hour earnings and as much as ₹10,000 across Dec 31–Jan 1, alongside temporary penalty waivers.
  • Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal said Zomato and Blinkit fulfilled over 75 lakh orders via more than 4.5 lakh delivery partners on Dec 31, calling it a single-day record, a claim that contrasted with union assertions of wide participation.
  • Unions including TGPWU, IFAT and GIPSWU reported over 1.7 lakh confirmed participants and reiterated demands to scrap 10-minute delivery targets, restore earlier payout structures, secure social security and protect the right to organise.
  • On-the-ground reports pointed to mixed effects, with visible protests and some delays in cities even as many services ran largely uninterrupted and some restaurants leaned on in-house fleets or alternate couriers.
  • Telangana’s labour minister said the state approved a Gig and Platform Workers Welfare Bill, signalling a shift toward policy responses beyond the New Year’s actions.