‘Gig economy exposed reality of inequality to people with luxury of not seeing it’: Deepinder Goyal
A day after delivery partners from across the industry went on a strike, Zomato co-founder Deepinder Goyal has weighed in on their struggles and the gig economy at large.
His comments, spread across several posts, pushed back against claims that gig work needed tighter regulation and framed the debate less as a labour issue and more as a question of visibility, perception, and discomfort with inequality.
Last one on this topic, and I have been holding this in myself for a while.
For centuries, class divides kept the labor of the poor invisible to the rich. Factory workers toiled behind walls, farmers in distant fields, domestic help in backrooms. The wealthy consumed the fruits…— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) January 2, 2026
He argued that gig work has changed how economic differences are experienced in daily life – by making them visible.
Deepinder Goyal on the gig economy debate
In his most recent post, Goyal said gig workers do not need more regulation and may, in fact, need less. He described the gig economy as the first system where the working class and the consuming class interact directly, repeatedly, and visibly – “at the doorstep,” as he put it.
Last one on this topic, and I have been holding this in myself for a while.
For centuries, class divides kept the labor of the poor invisible to the rich. Factory workers toiled behind walls, farmers in distant fields, domestic help in backrooms. The wealthy consumed the fruits…— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) January 2, 2026
That visibility, he suggested, is what drives much of the discomfort around the model.
The delivery partner is no longer abstract labour. The worker is seen. The inequality is seen. The transaction becomes personal. According to Goyal, that emotional friction is now being mistaken for a policy failure.
He added that attempts to ‘solve’ this discomfort through bans or heavy regulation risk pushing work back into informal spaces where there is less accountability, fewer protections, and no visibility at all.
His earlier comments on strikes and operations
Earlier on January 1, Goyal addressed the calls for strikes made by a small section of delivery workers ahead of New Year’s Eve. He said the platforms continued to function normally and recorded unusually high order volumes across Zomato and Blinkit.
Zomato and Blinkit delivered at a record pace yesterday, unaffected by calls for strikes that many of us heard over the past few days.
Support from local law enforcement helped keep the small number of miscreants in check, enabling 4.5 lakh+ delivery partners across both…— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) January 1, 2026
He credited delivery partners who chose to work and local authorities who intervened when some riders were allegedly threatened or obstructed. Goyal claimed a small group of terminated workers were responsible for disruptions and said they were trying to force their way back onto the platforms.
Most of our delivery partners did not want to go on a strike yesterday. The 0.1% miscreants I mentioned in the tweet below were illegally snatching parcels from those who wanted to work, beating them up, and threatening to damage their bikes. Which is why local law authorities… https://t.co/gAqbUlyOu5
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) January 1, 2026
He also pushed back on claims that fast delivery targets encourage unsafe driving, saying riders are not shown delivery timers and that the 10-minute promise is driven by store density, not speed.
One more thing. Our 10 minute delivery promise is enabled by the density of stores around your homes. It’s not enabled by asking delivery partners to drive fast. Delivery partners don’t even have a timer on their app to indicate what was the original time promised to the…
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) January 1, 2026
Why Goyal says over-regulation could hurt workers
Goyal positioned the gig economy as one of India’s largest organised job creators and said its long-term value would show up over time, particularly through education and income stability for workers’ families.
Zomato and Blinkit delivered at a record pace yesterday, unaffected by calls for strikes that many of us heard over the past few days.
Support from local law enforcement helped keep the small number of miscreants in check, enabling 4.5 lakh+ delivery partners across both…— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) January 1, 2026
The central point across his posts stayed consistent – the model is imperfect, but it is not exploitative by design – and attempts to dismantle it risk removing livelihoods rather than improving them.
