MC EXPLAINER India's gig economy’s stress test: Why delivery workers are striking on Christmas and New Year’s Eve

Delivery partners across platforms say falling pay, risky delivery targets and patchy social security have pushed them to organise nationwide action.

India’s delivery apps are headed for a stress test. Gig workers linked to platforms such as Swiggy, Zomato, Blinkit, Zepto, Amazon and Flipkart have called a nationwide strike on December 25 and December 31, days when orders spike.

Their complaint is straightforward: payouts are shrinking, delivery targets are getting tighter, and the 'welfare' part of gig work still looks mostly theoretical.

The dates are deliberate. Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve are peak-demand moments for India’s app economy.

Who is striking, and who is organising it

The strike call comes from a growing ecosystem of gig worker unions, led by the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers (IFAT) and the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union (TGPWU). These groups represent delivery partners, ride-hailing drivers and other platform workers across states.

Women-led collectives such as the Gig and Platform Service Workers’ Union have also backed the action, underlining that gig work now spans far beyond young men on bikes.

Organisers estimate that tens of thousands participated in the Christmas Day action through partial log-offs, rallies and bike marches. The December 31 strike is expected to be broader and more disruptive.

What gig workers are protesting

At the heart of the strike is a simple claim: the economics of gig work have quietly broken.

Delivery workers say per-order payouts have fallen sharply even as fuel costs, vehicle maintenance and competition have risen. In some quick-commerce services, payouts for short trips have dropped to the point where riders say they must complete far more deliveries, often under extreme time pressure, just to earn what they did a year ago.

That pressure has intensified with the rise of ultra-fast delivery models. Ten-minute grocery delivery has become a marketing promise. For workers, unions say, it translates into reckless deadlines, traffic risks and penalties if anything goes wrong.

Then there is the issue that angers workers most: account deactivation. Delivery partners say their app IDs can be blocked over customer complaints or algorithmic flags, often without explanation or appeal. For a gig worker, deactivation is instant unemployment.

Add long working hours, no paid leave, no guaranteed minimum wage, and limited insurance coverage, and the frustration has been building.

The strike’s core demands reflect that reality: transparent and fair pay, safer delivery timelines, limits on arbitrary deactivations, structured grievance redressal, and access to basic social security.

Why this moment feels different

India has seen gig worker protests before. But this one feels bigger.

Over the past five years, delivery riders, cab drivers and home-service workers have staged city-level strikes and flash protests, from ride-hailing driver shutdowns in Tamil Nadu to mass walkouts by Blinkit delivery workers after sudden pay cuts, to women beauticians protesting commission structures at Urban Company.

What those protests lacked was scale and coordination.

This time, unions are acting nationally. They are also strategically targeting peak demand days, when platforms are most vulnerable.

There’s another reason the timing matters: policy.

The policy backdrop: promises made, patience running out

India officially recognised gig and platform workers only recently.

The Code on Social Security, 2020, passed in 2020 and notified in late 2025, for the first time created a legal category for gig and platform workers. It requires digital platforms to contribute a small share of turnover to a social security fund meant to finance insurance and welfare schemes.

On paper, it was a milestone.

In practice, workers say, the benefits remain unclear and largely invisible. There is no guaranteed minimum income. No protection against sudden deactivation. No enforceable limits on working hours or delivery speeds.

States have moved faster. Rajasthan, Bihar and Karnataka have passed their own gig worker welfare laws, with Karnataka’s statute going furthest, proposing welfare boards, platform levies and safeguards against arbitrary account suspensions.

But implementation is uneven, and workers say platform behaviour on the ground has barely changed.

The strike, unions argue, is about forcing those laws to matter.

The platforms’ position and their silence

Platform companies insist their models offer flexibility and opportunity. They point to accident insurance during active deliveries, incentive payouts, and the ability for workers to choose when to log in.

What they do not dispute is that gig workers are not employees.

During the Christmas strike, most major platforms declined to issue public statements. Behind the scenes, unions allege, companies relied on surge incentives and selective enforcement to keep services running, and, in some cases, retaliated against organisers.

The lack of public engagement has only sharpened workers’ resolve ahead of December 31.

A global story, with an Indian twist

In California, voters approved Proposition 22, preserving contractor status while offering limited benefits, a compromise still fiercely contested. In Europe, regulators are pushing to reclassify many platform workers as employees, triggering resistance from tech companies.

India’s path sits somewhere in between: recognising gig work as permanent and essential, but stopping short of employment rights.

What makes India different is scale. The country already has millions of gig workers, and that number is expected to grow rapidly as platforms expand into smaller cities and logistics deepens.

How India resolves this tension will shape the future of work for a vast, young workforce.