In a robust defence of the gig economy model, Zomato Founder Deepinder Goyal has publicly shared detailed data on delivery partner compensation and welfare, following a recent call for a strike. His stance has been strongly endorsed by Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder of Naukri.com and a Non-Executive Director at Zomato's parent entity Eternal, who questioned the motives behind the strike campaign.
Boardroom Priority vs. Social Media Campaigns
Taking to the social media platform X, Sanjeev Bikhchandani threw his weight behind Goyal's disclosures. He emphasised that discussions on delivery partner welfare and fair compensation are a frequent and significant agenda item in the company's board meetings. Bikhchandani pointedly criticised the organisers of the strike call, suggesting they opted for a social media campaign over direct dialogue.
"Thanks for putting out these details in Public @deepigoyal," Bikhchandani wrote. He testified that the management and board are genuinely concerned about these issues. "Now the people who ran this campaign and unsuccessfully tried to organise a strike could have written or come over and asked for this information... However they preferred to instead launch a campaign on social media - it suited them and their political agenda better."
Goyal's Data-Driven Defence of the Gig Model
Earlier, Deepinder Goyal had laid out a comprehensive financial picture of the gig work at Zomato. The key revelation was that the average hourly earnings for delivery partners increased by approximately 10.9% year-on-year in 2025, reaching ₹102 compared to ₹92 in 2024 (tips excluded).
Goyal provided a monthly earnings breakdown: if a partner works 10 hours daily for 26 days, gross earnings are around ₹26,500. After deducting an estimated 20% for fuel and maintenance, the net monthly income stands at about ₹21,000. He stressed the model's inherent flexibility, noting that the average partner worked 38 days in 2025, averaging seven hours per working day. Only 2.3% worked more than 250 days in the year.
"Flexibility isn't incidental to the gig model, it is the whole point," Goyal stated, arguing that demanding full-time employee benefits like Provident Fund doesn't align with the model's design as a "flexible, stop-gap earning option."
Addressing Safety and Welfare Concerns
Goyal also addressed critical concerns around safety in quick commerce. He clarified that delivery partners are not shown customer-facing countdown timers, and 10-minute delivery promises are met through store proximity, not unsafe driving. Data showed average driving speeds of 16 km/h for Blinkit and 21 km/h for Zomato in 2025.
On welfare, Goyal disclosed that Zomato and Blinkit spent over ₹100 crore on insurance premiums for partners in 2025. This covers accident insurance up to ₹10 lakh, medical coverage, and loss of pay insurance. Additional initiatives include two period rest days monthly for women, tax filing help for 95,000 partners, and National Pension Scheme enrolment for 54,000 workers.
The Political Undertone and Broader Debate
The exchange carries a distinct political edge. In a separate post, Bikhchandani took a sharp, indirect dig at Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chadha, without naming him, calling him a "Champagne Socialist" and criticising his "crocodile tears" over gig worker exploitation.
This references Chadha's earlier public call to ban 10-minute delivery apps, accusing companies of oppressing workers. Goyal, in his defence, had earlier argued that the gig economy, for the first time, made labour visibility personal on a mass scale, which is why it sparks such heated debate.
The public data dump by Zomato's leadership is a direct response to mounting criticism of the gig economy's working conditions, aiming to shift the narrative with hard numbers and highlight the flexibility and low-barrier entry the platform claims to provide.
