As the talk over gig employee pay, security and social safety continues to rage on social media, Zomato founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal has doubled down on his defence of the gig economy model, releasing a contemporary set of information factors to counter allegations of overwork, unsafe supply timelines and lack of welfare for supply companions on Zomato and Blinkit.
In an in depth multi-part put up, Goyal argued that gig work on Zomato’s platforms is essentially designed for flexibility, supplementary earnings and autonomy — not instead for full-time employment — and that demanding conventional worker advantages dangers misunderstanding the model itself.
‘True gig-style participation, not fastened schedules’
Addressing claims that supply companions are overworked, Goyal mentioned platform knowledge from 2025 exhibits the other. According to him, the typical Zomato supply companion labored simply 38 days in your entire yr, logging about seven hours per working day. Only 2.3% of companions labored greater than 250 days yearly.
“Demanding full-time worker advantages like PF or assured salaries for gig roles doesn’t align with what the model is constructed for,” Goyal wrote, emphasising that supply companions select when and the place they work. There aren’t any assigned shifts, obligatory hours or fastened geographies, he mentioned, and companions are free to log out and in at will.
This, Goyal argued, demonstrates that supply work capabilities primarily as a secondary or stop-gap earnings supply fairly than a long-term lock-in. “Flexibility isn’t incidental to the gig model, it’s the entire level,” he mentioned.
Debunking the ‘10-minute supply stress’ argument
Goyal additionally pushed again in opposition to issues that fast commerce and 10-minute supply guarantees encourage unsafe driving. He mentioned supply companions aren’t proven customer-facing time commitments and don’t function with countdown timers of their apps.
According to Zomato’s inner knowledge, sooner deliveries on Blinkit are pushed by proximity of shops, not by larger speeds on the highway. In 2025, the typical distance per Blinkit order was 2.03 km, with a mean driving time of round eight minutes — translating to a mean velocity of roughly 16 kmph. On Zomato, the place supply occasions are longer, common driving speeds have been about 21 kmph.
“The knowledge exhibits that 10-minute versus 30-minute supply will not be affected by driving velocity,” Goyal mentioned, including that highway security stays a shared problem throughout logistics ecosystems, involving infrastructure, enforcement, prospects and supply companions alike.
Welfare spending and long-term help
On welfare, Goyal mentioned Zomato and Blinkit collectively spent over ₹100 crore in 2025 on insurance coverage protection for supply companions, with premiums totally borne by the corporate. Coverage contains accident insurance coverage of as much as ₹10 lakh, medical insurance coverage of ₹1 lakh with OPD advantages, loss-of-pay insurance coverage as much as ₹50,000, and maternity insurance coverage as much as ₹40,000.
Beyond insurance coverage, Goyal listed further help measures launched by the platforms, together with two paid relaxation days per 30 days for girls supply companions, earnings tax submitting help utilized by 95,000 companions, entry to a gig-specific National Pension Scheme variant with over 54,000 enrollments, and an SOS service for emergencies similar to accidents, breakdowns or theft.
Ending his put up, Goyal requested critics to reassess their assumptions: “Now inform me, is that this unfair? Especially for an unskilled job, which is basically part-time, and has zero boundaries to entry?”
