If you don't know, let me tell you that there is a war that is brewing in our country These new-age tech companies and gig economy workers. This fight is not a new one. It has been going on for a long time.
But in the new year this fight was seen in front of us in big way Perhaps in 2026-27 you will see this fight in an even bigger way. Because as far as these gig economy workers are concerned. .
. in Amazon, Swiggy, Flipkart, Zomato The delivery boys who come to you have now become a very big part, a big community Now they're trying to fight for their rights. They're trying to raise their voices.
They say that these big tech platforms, these delivery platforms are misusing their power They're being squeezed. Their money is reducing. Their working conditions are not good Because of this, on Christmas and New Year's Day, when volume is high, people order more from home.
They tried to stage a strike that day. They tried to take industrial action. Deepinder Goyal, the founder of Zomato, called them miscreants that all this was trouble making.
We take very good care of our workers. Why will you see this gig economy debate a lot in the coming days? What is the need for people to go into this gig economy?
Who is responsible for the exploitation of youth in our country today? And I don't think there can be any debate on this There is certainly exploitation, but who is responsible? Who is accountable?
Who should we ask the question to? This is also important to consider. So in today's debate episode of Deshbhakt, we will try to understand both the sides.
Because both sides have good points and arguments Is the gig economy being exploited or is business growing here? Let's try to understand that today. First of all we will try to see what is the issue of gig economy workers.
What is their main allegation, issue, complaint? Deepinder Goyal himself, why does he hit out from Zomato? The question wasn't just raised against Zomato.
It was raised on the entire gig economy And is the action taken politically motivated? Or are their demands quite legitimate and just? What are demands in the world?
What are the demands in India? What are the situations? We'll try to look at that too.
But perhaps the saddest thing is, can we even count gig economy employment as employment? Because the government is singing praises. Trying to take credit for providing gig economy jobs.
Look at the good work the govt is doing. And of course, ultimately, what you and I can do together. So that the brothers who are working in our gig economy can benefit at least a little.
Their voice be heard, they not be called miscreants. But on the other hand, it should not happen that a big regulation, a big strike happen. .
. . that the existing jobs also are lost There's also a sad commentary.
. . Before we get to that, let's examine what the main allegation is Against Zomato, Swiggy, Flipkart, Instamart and Amazon, and all these companies.
Now what happened is that this debate has come to the fore so actively because Because at the beginning of the year, the founder of Zomato tweeted this . . You were trying to launch a strike.
Some miscreant people failed. Because the food and grocery delivery platforms like Zomato, Blinkit It was said that they made record-breaking deliveries and this attempt to strike has failed. On the other hand, Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union said, look, don't lie.
We have also put you on notice and you have taken the help of administration and police tried to break our strike. Deepinder Goyal, who called the protesters miscreants, thanked the law enforcement agencies in his tweet. So this created a lot of problems.
. . People started asking questions.
Why is the CEO of a company thanking the police? Even if people are raising their voice, where did the law and order machinery come from under food delivery? So where gig economy workers are trying to form, they're trying to unionize themselves.
They are saying, you should have spoken to us. You should have listened to our voices. Here, Deepinder Goyal is thanking the law enforcement and the law enforcement was used To break our strike.
But Deepinder Goyal and this is a very controversial statement when he said in the tweet. . .
If Zomato was an unfair system, if the gig economy was unfair, then these thousands of people This statement became a bit controversial because if you pick up numerous studies So what you'll find is that people work out of necessity in the gig economy when there is no option Then they work in the gig economy to earn some money. Some people also pointed out on Twitter that this has become a zamindari system. Where zamindar can come and say - I have given jobs to the peasants and they are working on fields.
I give them some grain. It's brutal there, and their working conditions are terrible. So, somewhere, are we witnessing techno-feudalism?
This sparked considerable controversy. The first tweet was made by Deepinder Goyal. Because of it, many people were in doubt about what kind of thing was being discussed.
Another thing we'll be dealing with in great detail today is when Deepinder Goyal says These vested interests want to harm the gig economy. Does the gig economy really create real jobs? It is very important to find the answer to this question and at least today we will answer it.
Deepinder ji is also a little confused whether a gig economy job can be considered full-fledged job or not? What are the workers demanding? They're saying, Look, we don't have access to toilet No elevator access.
No Social Security. We don't get fair wages. We are underpaid.
Mediocre salary is given and there is no grievance redressal system. If we are blocked from the platform for any reason, then we are blocked. Our livelihood is taken away When we researched this, you'll find a lot of testimonials online, and you will find How a person logs online and makes themselves available for the work But it takes him one hour, two hours, three hours to receive an order.
But the time he spends on the app is not paid. He gets some money only when he works and delivers orders. As far as privacy is concerned, it is almost non-existent.
Many of these tech platforms track you completely when you install their apps. All the tracking mechanisms are used in your phone. The company says that they do this for our safety, our security and the availability of the partner.
And the trust factor. . .
many people may have misused it But if you look at how Urban Company manages each and every item that its partners use, Barcode it first, track it first, log it first, then use it. And if in this entire process even one packet of goods gets logged wrongly Your identity - ID may be blocked. Now, while this has been going on for so long, this strike came much later.
This problem has been ongoing for a long time. So, what the govt is doing in the meantime is something to think about Usually, the govt job is to mediate. The company is here, and there are people Let's talk to each other.
Let's try to find a middle ground. But what the government is doing here is also a big question mark. What is it doing about employment?
There's a big question mark there too. But sadly, in today's India, our gig economy workers They have to talk about a strike to demand a minimum order rate of ₹20 per order. When they are saying just give us ₹20 for minimum order assurance delivery.
This is also very sad. We've seen this happen before. If you look at the entire case of Uber and Ola, initially the money started coming in but then dried up Algorithm and platform started drawing more money, people fear the same thing will happen here too.
Some money coming in, will it also stop? So that was about the complaints. Now let's talk about the hard numbers and statistics.
What happened was that the rest of the industrialists, and big entrepreneurs . . .
kept quiet, but the way Deepinder Goyal came forward, he gave his stance. Some true, some controversial, but the data he presented is is very interesting and with this data he also exposes himself a little. But he also puts before us some truths about our country.
Deepinder, in a string of tweets, especially his one of five which was a very interesting tweet After the controversy happened, when he presented the data, it was quite interesting where he said If we look at 2025, the Earnings Per Hour (EPH), excluding tips, comes to ₹102 per hour If it was ₹92 in 2024, then you can also assume an annual increment of 10%. The interesting thing is that Deepinder says that delivery partners work only for a few hours. work for a few days in a month.
If someone works for 10 hours and works for 26 days, they can earn up to ₹26,500 Which will be more than the starting salary in the IT industry. The thing is, there's maintenance. There's fuel.
So if you deduct 20%, that figure goes up to 20,000 - 21,000 But what Deepinder Goyal, the architect of the gig economy, is trying to say This amount is coming to you when you have no entry level barrier All you need is a motorcycle or a two wheeler and you can earn this money. Now, in theory, you can earn this money. Because the real thing is that a person who works 26 days What % of people are able to work for 30 days.
. . 30 hours, 40 hours?
You will be shocked. . .
I will tell in a second. But in defense, another allegation was how people are risking lives to deliver in just 10 minutes. Deepinder Goyal says a very interesting thing that whether it is Blinkit or Zomato, the delivery agent does not have any clock timer.
Your time is running out. Hurry up and speed up. As a matter of fact, he has tried to explain in great detail what the concept of dark store is.
That first there will be a store in a neighborhood. It would have products When you open your app, it will check whether you are in the service area of that store or not. Only after that you can order all these things.
Deepinder Goyal says that if you look at 2025, the average distance travelled per order, on Blinkit is just 2 km. And the average time it takes is 8 minutes. The average speed of Blinkit driver is 16 km/h.
Talking about Zomato, where the drive time is slightly higher, the average driving speed is 20 - 21 kmph. Although we've seen things differently, maybe other company drivers not driving well But it is also established fact that drivers drive faster to complete more orders. That must be controlled Now, as far as these benefits are concerned, Deepinder Goyal is very aggressive and if this is true If this data is true, if these figures are true then other companies will also have to answer.
Do they also have similar facilities? Deepinder Goyal says that accident insurance of Rs 10 lakh is done Medical insurance of Rs 1 lakh and loss of pay insurance of Rs 50,000 provided Maternity insurance of Rs 40,000 is provided. And there is a gig variant called NPS There is a PRAN under NPS in which more than 50,000 people are already there.
SOS feature for emergency assistance is also provided. Zomato provides all these things to its drivers, says Deepinder Goyal. Good thing.
If this is happening, it's a good thing. The question is whether other gig economy providers Swiggy, Instamart - do they also have this? Now why is Deepinder Goyal saying all this out loud?
He could have just kept quiet. You guys go ahead with your two-day protest. We'll quietly carry on with work.
Here, I think the fear of Deepinder Goyal is that the government may come tomorrow and over-regulate. Remember, our tech sector was not regulated, and only then did it flourish -the Infosys and the Wipro of the world. Deepinder Goyal feels, Zomato feels, experts feel that if the government comes and over-regulates here So the entire industry may come to an end Remember, you do not need any degree or formal skill to work in this sector.
Now those who are speaking in favor of Deepinder Goyal are saying that we too will have to introspect If the gig economy is saying, their workers are saying that ₹40,000 should be their minimum salary. So will we give ₹40,000 to our housemaid? Will we provide insurance and medi claim and all these benefits to our house helps?
Probably not. Something to think about. Now, how Deepinder exposed his weakness through his tweet is also quite interesting.
So listen carefully Deepinder told this in his tweet . . .
I'm not saying that. Deepinder Goyal, owner of number one company in gig economy is saying In 2025, the average delivery partner on Zomato worked for 38 days a year. .
. worked for an average of 7 hours per day but the average in Zomato is 38 days. Deepinder is saying that this is true reflection that what we are doing is a gig.
Gig does not mean full employment. The gig economy is about working when you have time, to have a secondary income, and a desire to work more Work for few hours on gigs after completing their main job They supplement their income. And there's nothing wrong with that.
He says that only 2. 3% of the people registered with Zomato work for more than 250 days. Just think if this employment.
. all around yearly employment So only 2. 3% people work more than 250 days.
This shows another thing there are people but they can't find work. They log in but cannot find the delivery. They want to work but are unable to get adequate rates.
And even if Zomato pays less, people are still ready to work. So the supply in our economy is so high that it always fills the demand. That's why Zomato does not need to pay much So many people are already registered, it may give work to anyone or not.
This is the problem that people are pointing out, that even if you take Deepinder's maths That Zomato worker average days is 38. This means 38 days he is working on and if you do the maths, multiplication, earning Rs 35,000 avg yearly This is like MGNREGA type of situation. Deepinder himself says.
. . I am quoting: What ministers and supporters are saying is job generation is not actually job generation.
Deepinder Goyal himself is saying. Zomato itself is saying that this is a secondary source of income. The question is whether, like in America, 70% of the people working in Zomato, or gig economy, Is their primary source of income elsewhere?
If so, that's good. If not, then it shows how bad the condition of our economy and employment of our youth is. That they have to depend on gigs for their income, for their basic income.
It is clear that there is more flow in our economy, more people, more unemployed people. And they can be exploited. Since when did it become the responsibility of Zomato or Deepinder Goyal or Swiggy to solve our unemployment problem?
They're doing what they can. They're finding cheap labor and using it You and I are also using the same cheap labor to order all these things at home in a cheap manner. If it becomes too expensive, we might not even order it.
We have to accept this fact. The question is, where do we place responsibility then? You can see Amitabh Kant's tweet.
He has been the former head of the NITI Aayog. He has become the G20 Sherpa who organized this entire G20 in India He has been a very special advisor to Modi for so many years. He was the one responsible for building smart city.
Anyway forget about it. Look what he says in his tweet - Look again what kind of jumla is being fed to you. Deepinder Goyal himself is saying that this is a secondary source of income.
But here they're trying to convince you that this is a job creation engine. It's not. It's the gig economy.
It's not a job creation engine. And why isn't it? Because people have not been able to get more jobs.
When we understand this, then perhaps we will ask fewer questions to Deepinder Goyal and more questions to Narendra Modi and Nirmala Sitharaman. Why did it happen that today we have to ask Deepinder questions about gig economy workers? Whereas they should have a good full time job, where is that job?
Now even Amitabh Kant will not tell you about those who could not build smart city Now trying to take credit for the gig economy generating jobs. It is not. Because working in the gig economy won't allow anyone to upskill and they won't be able to get increments.
. . .
won't be able to move forward in life. It's just a small stop-gap arrangement to earn money. We have to understand some hard facts.
We have to ask some questions. What happened to our demographic dividend? The young population, supposed to work in factory The one who was supposed to move ahead, one who was supposed to get job, crore jobs per year, where is that?
We have to ask questions about this. Why is labor so cheap? This labour should have worked in Make in India and with Make in India we were going to become vishwa guru what happened to Make in India?
Why are these laborers sitting on the streets today? Who will answer this? And here we also have to understand that even if a low salary is being given, Even if less money is being given to these riders, these partners Even then, Blinkit is sitting on a ₹1000 crore loss.
These new age companies, appear to be very large. Their valuations are so high. But it is still on the verge of profit and loss, will it remain tomorrow or not is a question What is more interesting is that you ask the question that how our IT sector, which is so many years old and decades old, has earned so much money.
Made us a vishwa guru in back-end IT services Talk about Wipro, talk about TCS, talk about Infosys Where Narayana Murthy says that we need to work 70 hours. But unable to answer the question why the joining salary of Rs 25000 - 30,000 stuck for 20 years? Why the joining salary not increased till date?
Whereas if you talk about top management, their salary has increased by 300 to 3000%. But the joining salary has not increased because our govt has not been able to generate opportunities. Be it in the field of software, service or manufacturing.
That's why you're seeing deindustrialization, where people are going back to the villages. They're working in agriculture. There's a surplus supply in our system picked up by gig economy companies for cheap You too are getting household goods at cheap rates.
You and I, the govt, and, of course, gig economy companies are all responsible for this. Nothing is going to happen by raising questions about one person or one company. You have to see a broader picture.
You have to understand. You will have to delve a little into maths because when you delve into maths then you will know That some gig economy workers without skills without university education, without spending 15 - 20 lakh Earning the same amount as a normal engineering graduate today. 20 - 25,000 Rupees.
. so it is a matter of shame that we did not allow higher level of employment to happen. Or at least failed miserably at it, and I'm not saying Because of this, Deepinder Goyal gets the right to say that he is generating employment in this country.
He too is not doing any significant work. He too is taking advantage of this cheap labor. We hope that if he takes this cheap labour into a disciplined and formal sector, it would be a good thing.
But if you talk about the informal sector, then some figures that come before us are If you talk about daily salary of housemaids, then it is ₹500 to ₹1000 ₹500 to ₹1500 for battery rickshaw operator if the rickshaw is theirs or not depends on it too Talk about auto driver - ₹700 to ₹1800 Daily wage labourer sitting at a chowk will earn ₹500 - 1000 if he gets work If you talk about helper in sweet shop or restaurant then it is ₹600 per day. Even an office boy earns ₹700 a day. Taxi driver, depending on whether the taxi is his or not, he may also make ₹1500 to ₹2000 a day So this gig economy worker is not earning that much.
We hope that at least if this is becoming a formalized sector, If you are a public listed company, you will provide them better facilities. You will try to give them a little better salary, at least a little more than the unorganized sector. But at present, the employment being provided to gig economy workers, need not be too happy Because their salary structure is not much higher than that of the unemployment sector.
Deepinder Goyal is probably not wrong in saying that the gig economy is based on temporary work. So there you cannot even avail PF, pension or health insurance beyond a certain point of time. Here I would like to ask the government that all these questions that we are asking asking to Zomato .
. . but till today to clean gutter, a person has to enter the gutter and clean it.
While the court orders have come in, the govt has already admitted that it will robotize it. We won't let people die by entering gutters. But the reality is that labor is so cheap that we can even get people to clean gutters.
People are willing to die there even for small money. . .
This is the truth. We have to accept this truth before we start crying that bad things are happening to gig economy workers. But we cannot run away from one truth that this entire gig economy is based on this.
. That there is no employment in our country today and in the pursuit of cheap employment, people are even ready to take delivery orders for ₹30. This is not something to be happy about, to be proud of, not something to celebrate.
It's called the gig economy, but it's nothing but a desperation economy. Where even for such little money, people roam the streets all day trying to earn something.
