Eternal CEO Deepinder Goyal denies gig worker exploitation, says delivery partners get social security, fair pay

Eternal chief executive officer Deepinder Goyal

• Deepinder Goyal defends Zomato and Blinkit's gig model amid strike calls
• He claims platforms offer flexibility, income support, and welfare benefits
• Goyal says ultra-fast delivery relies on store density, not rider speed

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Amid a heated public debate over gig work conditions following a call by delivery workers for a nationwide strike late last month, Eternal chief executive officer Deepinder Goyal has defended Zomato and Blinkit’s labour model, arguing that platform work is filling a critical gap in India’s job market while offering flexibility, income support and basic welfare benefits to delivery partners.

Speaking on a recent video podcast with Raj Shamani, Goyal said India’s food delivery and quick commerce platforms were enabling economic mobility at a time when formal job creation remains constrained.

“We are empowering a generation of people to educate their children, to improve their future, which would have otherwise not been possible. There are no jobs out there,” he said.

The comments come days after delivery worker unions called for nationwide strikes on December 25 and December 31, demanding minimum earnings guarantees, social security benefits, greater transparency in pay structures and relief from what they described as unsafe delivery pressure—particularly linked to 10-minute delivery promises.

While the strike calls trended on social media, platforms said operations remained largely unaffected. Zomato and Blinkit reported record order volumes on New Year’s Eve, with Goyal earlier stating that over 75 lakh orders were delivered across the two platforms in a single day.

Goyal reiterated that ultra-fast delivery timelines do not translate into pressure on riders. “Our delivery partners are not given any fixed timeline that they must deliver the food by a certain time,” he said on the podcast.

“10 minutes is not enabled through us asking people to drive fast; 10 minutes is enabled by density of stores. They are just so close to you.” He pointed to Blinkit’s dense network in large urban markets, noting that Delhi-NCR alone has over 400 Blinkit stores, enabling shorter travel distances rather than higher riding speeds.

On worker welfare, Goyal said Eternal provides several benefits directly, rather than relying on statutory mandates. “We have shelters, we pay them on time and fairly, they can work whenever they want. We offer social security—insurance and other benefits—privately,” he said, positioning these measures as central to what he described as a fair working environment for gig workers.

He also addressed concerns around account deactivations and churn—key issues flagged by unions—saying exits are inherent to the gig model. According to Goyal, Zomato terminates close to 5,000 delivery partners every month due to fraud-related cases. In contrast, he said, between 1.5 lakh and 2 lakh delivery partners leave the platform voluntarily each month, reflecting the non-exclusive and flexible nature of gig work rather than systemic distress.

In earlier posts on social media, Goyal had argued that most delivery partners participate on a part-time basis and value flexibility over fixed schedules, adding that demands for full-time employee benefits such as provident fund or guaranteed salaries do not align with how gig platforms are designed. He has also maintained that faster delivery promises are driven by logistics optimisation and store proximity, not algorithmic pressure on riders.

As scrutiny of gig platforms intensifies—from unions, policymakers and the public—Goyal’s remarks underscore the industry’s core defence: that scale, flexibility and voluntary participation, combined with platform-funded welfare measures, constitute fairness in a gig economy model that companies argue is distinct from traditional employment.