Zomato’s new ad highlights small gestures that make delivery partners with disabilities feel seen

Zomato’s latest campaign for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities begins with a simple idea. Many of its delivery partners who are hearing and speech impaired move through the city every day, interact with customers, and complete their routes without always receiving the acknowledgement that others take for granted. The film turns this everyday gap into the centre of its story.

View this post on Instagram

It focuses on Rakesh, a hearing-impaired delivery partner from Chennai, and follows him through a routine workday. The film shows him arriving at homes, handing over orders, and witnessing customers thanking him, yet not in a way that reaches him. These scenes establish the distance between intent and experience. The customers express gratitude, but the gesture does not land in a way he can access. The film stays with this silence as Rakesh moves from door to door, highlighting how routine appreciation often stops short of becoming meaningful for him.

The shift in the narrative arrives when a young customer greets him with a sign he recognises. The child’s gesture comes from a tutorial on the Zomato customer app that teaches users how to thank delivery partners with hearing impairment in sign language. The moment is brief, but it bridges the gap the film has been building up to, showing how a simple act of communication can offer a sense of recognition that has been missing.

This is the core of the campaign. Zomato framed the film around one partner’s daily journey, but the story reflects the experiences of more than 1,000 hearing and speech-impaired delivery partners who work on the platform. The film aligns with the brand’s broader mission to create dignified and meaningful livelihood opportunities for persons with disabilities. As of October 2025, the company has onboarded more than 5,000 PwD delivery partners, including over 1,000 with hearing and speech impairments.

Speaking about the initiative, Anjalli Ravi Kumar, Chief Sustainability Officer, Eternal, said, “This campaign puts a spotlight on our PwD delivery partners, who show incredible commitment while navigating challenges unique to them. We want to empower delivery partners with disabilities not just by supporting them as they access livelihood opportunities but also through everyday moments of empathy and understanding. Even a small gesture of appreciation can make them feel a little more seen and supported.”

The campaign’s approach connects the story in the film to the company’s existing efforts. The brand works with individuals with locomotor disabilities and hearing and speech impairments through technology enhancements, stakeholder sensitisation, specialised training for fleet coaches, grievance-redressal channels, and higher earning potential per kilometre for delivery partners with disabilities. These measures sit behind the narrative and give context to what the film seeks to highlight.