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Gig Workers’ New Year’s Eve Strike Leaves Services Largely Intact as Zomato, Blinkit Set Order Records

Higher festive payouts with temporary penalty waivers kept many riders online.

Overview

  • Unions led by TGPWU, IFAT and GIPSWU called a nationwide walkout on December 31, claiming over 170,000 confirmed participants, but turnout and impact varied by city.
  • Platforms raised earnings offers, with Zomato paying ₹120–₹150 per order during 6 p.m.–12 a.m. and Swiggy advertising up to ₹10,000 across Dec 31–Jan 1, which companies described as standard festive practice.
  • Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal said Zomato and Blinkit logged their highest-ever single-day volumes, with more than 75 lakh orders fulfilled by over 4.5 lakh delivery partners and operations largely unaffected.
  • Independent reports described limited disruption in many areas despite protests, though some locales saw delays and restaurants leaned on in-house fleets and third-party couriers to hedge supply.
  • Worker groups pressed demands to scrap 10-minute delivery targets, restore better payouts, secure social protection, and curb algorithmic penalties and ID blocking, citing earlier punitive responses to protests.