Mute Spectator

Facts below (1/5): In 2025, average earnings per hour (EPH), excluding tips, for a delivery partner on Zomato were ₹102. In 2024, this number was ₹92. That’s a ~10.9% year-on-year increase. Over a longer horizon also, EPH has shown steady growth. Most delivery partners work for a few hours and only a few days in a month. But if someone were to work for 10 hours/day, 26 days/month, this translates to ~₹26,500/month in gross earnings. After accounting for fuel and maintenance (~20%), the net earnings for the partner are ~₹21,000/month. Note: Earnings per hour are calculated on total hours logged in, including the time when the partner might be waiting to receive an order. Earnings per “busy hour” will be higher but that’s not the right metric to look at. On top of this - delivery partners earn 100% of tips given by customers. The average tip per hour in 2025 on Zomato was INR 2.6 and in 2024 was INR 2.4 per hour. Tips are transferred instantly, with zero deductions. We absorb the payment gateway processing cost ourselves. About 5% of the orders get tipped on Zomato; 2.5% on Blinkit.

Socialists always live it up...they can afford to be socialists because they neither create anything, nor employ anyone, they live off other peoples money (especially champagne socialists), they love spending other peoples money, their business model is to make a living by selling the miseries of the poor, they come into government only to exploit it and enrich themselves. Has anyone ever seen a socialist who is poor? Even about Mahatma Gandhi it was said that it costs lot of money to keep him poor! (before the lynch mob comes for me, Sarojini Naidu said this). But the entrepreneurs are evil because they create wealth, jobs, give people a living, they build infrastructure, they build capabilities, they take risks to build something, and they arent parasites like socialists. Hence they are evil. (again before the lynch mob aims at me, this last part is sarcasm).

Mill workers in Kanpur tried to act in a similar fashion. Result: Mills closed down. The next 2 generations of these workers couldn’t not even have 2 square meals a day. The trade unionist who instigated them went on to become a parliamentarian & lived in a plush Lutyens house.

I am all for peaceful protests against anything and everything. But violent protests and stopping others who want to work from working is not okay (proof attached). Here’s what we know – a number of these protestors were not even our delivery partners. They were agents of political interests, piggybacking on the narrative to gain political mileage.

Indians: We want jobs. Entrepreneur: Here’s an idea. Let me take the risk, build a business, and employ as many people as I can. (Some traction later) Indians: Bloody exploiters. We demand everything, right now. Entrepreneur: Okay. Shutting it down. Indians: See? Capitalism doesn’t work. It can’t feed people.

I sat down with delivery riders of Zomato, Swiggy, Blinkit etc. This is not a rant. This is a conversation with those whose lives power our everyday comfort. It’s tragic that millions of delivery riders who helped build instant-commerce companies into what they are today, are now forced to protest just to be heard. These platforms didn’t succeed because of algorithms alone. They succeeded because of human sweat and labour. It’s time companies start treating riders as human beings, not disposable data points. The gig economy cannot become a guilt-free exploitation economy.

All this new found love for gig workers is a carefully crafted moved to create chaos in the society as platforms have been a huge source of employment to huge body of non skilled population……once out of job, all this working population is bound to create chaos in the society!