Changes little on ground: Gig workers as quick commerce platforms vow to drop 10-min delivery

On Christmas and New Year’s eve in 2025, gig workers held strikes to draw attention to what they say are unsafe delivery demands made of them.

Gig workers in the national capital on Tuesday said quick-commerce platforms’ alleged move to drop the standard 10-minute delivery promises to customers makes little difference to them on the ground. With a bulk of their earnings dependent on a higher volume of deliveries, the pressure to make quick deliveries, they said, would remain.

With a bulk of their earnings dependent on a higher volume of deliveries, the pressure to make quick deliveries, they said, would remain. (HT PHOTO)

On Christmas and New Year’s eve in 2025, gig workers held strikes to draw attention what they say are unsafe delivery demands made of them and the lack of adequate health, safety and income protections in the event of accidents.

With no guaranteed minimum wage and a low per-delivery rate, the agents who spoke to HT said they are forced to rely heavily on incentives provided by the platforms, which fluctuate and are not guaranteed. They asked not to be named fearing action from companies.

A 19-year-old delivery partner operating in west Delhi said that it takes over 35 deliveries a day to earn between ₹1,200-1,500 a day and he is barely able to make ends meet. “After working for nearly 15 hours, we are able to earn ₹1,500-1,600 and less if we work for lesser hours. We drive on the wrong side and risk our lives to make maximum deliveries and to earn incentives which come with an earned amount.”

While there is no compulsion to deliver within a certain time limit, many of the incentives only unlock at a certain volume of deliveries — this can force gig workers to deliver quickly if they want to earn a certain amount.

“There is no time limit within which we must deliver an order but the volume of orders we deliver and the time within which we order them is directly related to our incentives and rating,” said a 25-year-old delivery agent who primarily works in the Civil Lines area.

As a 26-year-old delivery partner in west Delhi explained, “For instance, to earn an incentive of ₹440, I have to earn ₹875. I get around ₹15 from a delivery before 6 pm and about ₹25 after. So roughly, I have to make around 40 deliveries in a day.”

The incentive structure also changes daily, and even through the day. “The incentive structure changes two to three times a day as well. It depends on how heavy demand is, whether it is the festive season, whether weather conditions are extreme,” another delivery agent said, adding, “The problem with this structure is that there is no regulated pay, as in if I have logged in for three hours and demand is very low that day, I do not get any incentive.”

Certain incentives are also linked to the number of hours they work. A 20-year-old delivery partner said he is tied to an offer that gives him an incentive if he works nearly 15 hours a day.

Delivery agents also stressed that they had no information about the developments.

The 25-year-old delivery agent quoted above said, “No formal communication about the 10-minute branding being removed has been communicated to us yet, but even if it is, that changes very little on the ground for us. We are happy that something positive is coming out from us raising our voices but this is not nearly enough.”

On Tuesday, he earned an incentive of ₹144 after completing 22 deliveries between 10 am and 3pm.

Another 30-year-old delivery agent said that the struggle has only just begun. “We have a long way to go. We are all happy that the government is now listening to us [but]... they are simply changing what they advertise to the customers. As long as these companies do not create a secured payment structure for us, our struggle will not end.”

Dharmendra Kumar, the national president of the Amazon India Workers’ Union, welcomed the move, but added that it “does not change the business model as there is still no minimum wage, insurance or safety measures for the workers in place”.

Workers, he said, are lured by the promise of higher ratings, which bring them more deliveries and therefore more incentives, as well as they idea of incentives. “They work 10-12 hours daily so they can earn more.”