Overview
- Delivery workers rallied on December 31 seeking higher pay, safer conditions and formal social-security entitlements after a year of changing incentives and long hours.
- Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal said quick deliveries rely on dense store networks rather than speed, reported a 2025 average of ₹102 per hour for partners, and cited more than ₹100 crore spent on insurance.
- Platforms said operations continued with record demand on New Year’s Eve, with Zomato and Blinkit together handling about 75 lakh orders that night.
- Worker unions countered that per-order payouts have eroded, in some cases to around ₹12, forcing 10–14 hour shifts and claiming record volumes reflect economic compulsion rather than fair conditions.
- The Labour Ministry’s draft rules would extend social-security eligibility after 90 days with one aggregator or 120 days across multiple, as industry figures such as Amitabh Kant backed job-creation claims and commentators urged a safety floor over bans.