Zomato founder and chief executive Deepinder Goyal and gig workers’ unions have locked horns over pay, working conditions and the controversial 10-minute delivery model, offering sharply different pictures of life as a delivery partner.
While the company says its gig framework provides rising earnings, flexibility and safety, worker representatives argue that net pay remains low and social security protections are absent.
In a detailed post on X, Goyal defended Zomato’s gig model, stating that delivery partners earned an average of ₹102 per hour in 2025, excluding tips, up from ₹92 in 2024 — a 10.9 percent increase. He said this figure was calculated on total logged-in time, including waiting periods, to give a realistic view of earnings rather than just peak “busy hours”.
According to Goyal, a partner working 10 hours a day for 26 days a month could earn around ₹26,500 in gross income, which would come down to roughly ₹21,000 after fuel and vehicle maintenance costs. He added that delivery partners retain 100 percent of customer tips, which averaged ₹2.6 per hour in 2025, and are transferred instantly without deductions.
The Zomato CEO also pushed back against criticism that 10-minute delivery promises encourage rash driving. He said such deliveries are made possible by the density of nearby stores and efficient routing, not by pressuring riders to speed. Gig work, he argued, is designed for flexibility, noting that in 2025 the average delivery partner worked just 38 days in the year, typically for seven hours a day, with only a small fraction logging in for more than 250 days.
However, the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Association has challenged these claims, calling the model “not decent work”. The union said that once expenses are accounted for, net earnings work out to about ₹81 per hour, translating to roughly ₹21,000 a month for 260 hours of work. It also disputed the impact of tips, claiming that only about 5 percent of orders receive tips, limiting their contribution to overall income.
More critically, the association flagged the lack of social security benefits, alleging that delivery partners have no paid leave, accident cover or long-term welfare protections. These concerns have fuelled protests by Zomato and Swiggy workers against quick commerce and ultra-fast delivery models.
The debate has triggered strong reactions online, with some backing Goyal’s argument that ₹20,000-plus monthly earnings are meaningful in the Indian context, while others argue that ensuring dignity of labour and basic protections should be a shared responsibility of companies and the state.
