Gig workers, social security and the strike that triggered a wider debate

But Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal quickly stepped in to respond with detailed data to defend the gig model. In 2025, average earnings per hour for a Zomato delivery partner stood at ₹102, up from ₹92 in 2024, a year-on-year increase of about 10.9%. Goyal said in 5-part post on X that if a partner worked 10 hours a day for 26 days a month, gross earnings would be around ₹26,500, translating to net earnings of roughly ₹21,000 after accounting for fuel and maintenance costs.

On safety concerns, Goyal said delivery partners are not shown customer-facing time promises and that faster deliveries are driven by store proximity, not higher speeds. On Blinkit, the average distance per order was 2.03 km, with an average driving speed of about 16 km per hour in 2025.

Zomato and Blinkit together spent over ₹100 crore on insurance coverage for delivery partners in 2025, covering accidents, medical expenses, loss of pay and maternity benefits, he added.