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The cost of convenience in Qcom: Examining gig worker unrest

Following the workers' protests, Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has nudged quick commerce platforms to drop 10-minute delivery branding, and as of now, Blinkit has removed it.

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Payal Navarkar
New Update
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As midnight approached on December 31, 2025, millions of Indians were busy ordering grapes for the viral ‘new year grapes under the table’ trend. But while consumers clicked through their favourite quick commerce apps, thousands of delivery workers across the country had decided to pause, demanding fair wages and basic rights from the very platforms promising 10-minute deliveries.

The timing might have been deliberate. The workers knew that disrupting services during one of the year's busiest shopping periods would force both companies and the government to pay attention.

India's quick commerce market has grown at a pace that caught even industry observers off guard. The sector reached Rs 25,300 crore in FY2024-25 and is projected to grow at 49% annually through 2028. Between 2024 and 2027 alone, the industry is expected to grow threefold, reaching Rs 1-1.5 lakh crore with a 28% annual growth rate.

Over 600 dark stores now operate nationwide, concentrated in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. These warehouses, designed to fulfil orders within minutes, have become the backbone of an industry built on the promise of instant gratification.

But behind this growth lies a workforce struggling to keep pace.

According to the Ministry of Labour and Employment's Annual Gig Work Bulletin for 2024-25, over 3.5 lakh individuals work in quick commerce delivery. 60% are part-time gig workers earning between Rs 700 and Rs 1,200 daily. NITI Aayog projects India's gig workforce will reach 2.35 crore by 2029-30.

These numbers represent real people navigating traffic, weather, and tight deadlines to deliver everything from groceries to electronics in minutes.

Nearly 40,000 delivery workers participated in a nationwide flash strike on December 25, 2025, reportedly causing 50-60% service disruption in many cities. A week later, on December 31, the protests intensified.

What gig workers asked for

The demands extend beyond wages. Workers put forward a six-point charter that includes fair wages, safe working conditions, social security, and protection of workers' rights. They protested what they call unsafe work models, falling incomes, arbitrary ID blocking, police harassment, and denial of dignity and social security.

Worker unions argue these concerns point to deeper structural issues in the platform economy. Without urgent government intervention, they warn, tensions between platforms and the workforce will only escalate.

How leaders reacted on social media

The protests quickly drew social attention. The All India Professional Congress wrote on X that the strike was "not about inconvenience, it is about rights," highlighting their gig workers' policies in Telangana and Karnataka.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha called gig workers the "invisible wheels of the Indian economy" and flagged how ultra-fast 10-minute delivery models push workers into unsafe conditions. He urged the government to regulate quick commerce platforms and ensure dignity, safety, and rights for gig workers, pointing to cases where riders earned very low wages despite long shifts.

Minister of Labour and Employment Vivek Venkatswamy posted a video on X expressing support for the strike. 

Actor-comedian Vir Das took to X and voiced support for the gig workers.

However, Zomato and Blinkit CEO Deepinder Goyal pushed back against the criticism. He defended his platforms' treatment of delivery workers, noting that recent strike calls did not affect operations as the platforms recorded their highest-ever order volumes on New Year's Eve.

Goyal directly addressed concerns that the 10-minute delivery promise puts workers at risk by forcing them to speed through traffic. He said quick delivery times are made possible by store density, not by asking workers to drive fast. According to Goyal, delivery partners don't have timers on their apps showing the promised delivery time to customers.

Responding to claims that gig workers are exploited, Goyal argued that the system's ability to attract and retain workers speaks to its fairness.

Government intervention

Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had earlier encouraged companies to reconsider fixed delivery time commitments. The government began engaging with food delivery and quick commerce platforms officials after worker unions warned that tight delivery timelines could put riders at risk.

The pressure worked, at least it looks like it.

Blinkit reportedly planned to remove references to ‘10-minute delivery’ from all brand messaging, including advertisements, promotional campaigns, and social media posts. By Tuesday afternoon, the 10-minute delivery messaging was no longer visible when users opened the Blinkit app. The interface now shows ‘BlinkIt in 15 minutes.’

However, in a regulatory filing issued the same day, Eternal clarified that the branding update would have no impact on its business model, its operations, or its financial outlook.

The change does not necessarily mean deliveries will take longer. Companies are simply avoiding fixed time guarantees in public messaging that could be seen as encouraging unsafe delivery practices.

Amid the controversy, Zomato launched a multi-city road safety initiative on Wednesday. Delivery partners will undergo 90-120 minutes of professional, traffic police-led training focused on responsible driving techniques for navigating high-density urban traffic, maintaining safe following distances, and anticipating road risks. They will also receive training in basic first aid and emergency response.

Meanwhile, Zepto and Instamart haven't responded to these developments or made any changes as of yet.

The bigger picture

The Code on Social Security, 2020, marked the first time gig and platform workers were formally recognised under Indian labour law, ensuring access to social security benefits, including life and disability cover, accident insurance, health and maternity benefits, and old-age protection.

The issue has raised concerns among investors as the government continues deliberations on expanding social security coverage for gig and platform workers under India's new labour codes. Any increase in compliance requirements or benefit costs could materially impact the unit economics of quick commerce and food delivery companies, which already operate on thin margins.

With India's gig workforce projected to grow to 23.5 million by 2030, nearly three times its size a decade earlier, the urgency for stronger worker protections has never been clearer.

On the other hand, India’s neighbourhood kirana stores had earlier raised concerns over the rapid rise of e-commerce and quick-commerce platforms. An estimated two lakh kirana stores shut down as of December 2025 as shoppers increasingly turned to 10-30 minute delivery apps, according to the Federation of Retailer Associations of India (FRAI).

A December 2024 JP Morgan study of Mumbai’s offline grocery market found that 60% of kirana stores reported a decline in sales volume, which retailers linked to the spread of quick-commerce dark stores. FRAI warned that the closures signal early signs of a wider disruption to India’s small retail economy. Independent shopkeepers are reportedly being pushed into delivery or gig roles by large platforms, weakening traditional entrepreneurship. Retailers, too, had urged government intervention, including digital tools that would allow kiranas to compete more fairly in the fast-delivery market.

For now, the grapes have been delivered, the new year has been celebrated, and the apps are still promising speedy service. But the question of who bears the real cost of convenience remains unresolved.

Blinkit gig workers strike 10-minute delivery