A social entrepreneur has called out Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal for his stance on the gig workers issue. Anand Sankar objected to Goyal labelling gig workers as “miscreants” and said that he saw them as the backbone of any business.
The pushback from Sankar came after delivery partners associated with several platforms, including Zomato, declared a strike on December 31. They demanded better pay and working conditions from their employers.
A day after the strike, Goyal announced that “local law enforcement helped keep the small number of miscreants in check”, enabling Zomato and Zomato-owned Blinkit to successfully deliver over 75 lakh orders on December 31.
Anand Sankar hits back
Anand Sankar, the Uttarakhand-based founder of an apple e-tailing business, criticised Goyal for his take on the gig workers’ issue. Sankar said he was being openly critical of the Zomato founder despite warnings that it could negatively affect his business.
Sankar said he was warned that venture capitalists were closely watching his public comments and that Deepinder Goyal himself is a potential investor, making open criticism risky. He was cautioned that he was drawing unnecessary attention, advised to stay quiet rather than speak out, and reminded that he might soon need to approach Blinkit for a listing — implying that such criticism could hurt future business prospects.
“Being outspoken about issues I care about is who I am and this won't change, especially when this issue of gig workers is central to the industry where I run my business,” he said.
“Your life is built on their sweat”
{{/usCountry}}“Being outspoken about issues I care about is who I am and this won't change, especially when this issue of gig workers is central to the industry where I run my business,” he said.
“Your life is built on their sweat”
{{/usCountry}}Sankar, the founder of Tons Valley Shop, acknowledged that Deepinder Goyal had done some work for the welfare of delivery workers — including providing them with insurance. However, he was ticked off by the Zomato CEO labelling gig workers as “miscreants” for demanding rights. (Also read: ‘Miscreants kept in check’: Zomato CEO says after gig workers’ strike)
“Your life has been built on their sweat,” he told Goyal in a now-viral X post.
The founder of Sayb Apples and Tons Valley Shop then revealed a few incidents that made him realise how tough life can be for gig workers. “Let me recall a few incidents that pushed me to care,” he said in his X post.
The first incident in 2020
When Sankar was just starting out in 2020, he was shipping his first few hundred orders every week from his home in Dehradun, often loading them from the boot of his own car.
On one occasion, he had transported nearly 600 kg of orders down from the mountains, with Delhivery scheduled to pick up around 320 kg. Expecting a small goods vehicle, he was shocked when a single delivery rider arrived on a bike with an oversized bag.
The rider said he planned to make three to four trips to ferry 320 kg of apples. Each time, he planned to carry 60 to 70 kg apples on his two-wheeler.
Sankar was shocked at the idea and negated it immediately, noting how it could be dangerous for the delivery driver.
“The call came from Delhivery and we had an argument, I refused to handover orders till a chota hathi came or they sent 10 riders. They sent a chota hathi the next day. And after that every single pickup they would ask me what vehicle to send because they realised I am dead serious about this matter. Change happened at least for my orders,” he explained.
The second incident with a rude customer
In another incident in Bengaluru, Sankar saw the imbalance gig workers face play out even more starkly. A 10 kg box of apples was to be delivered to an eighth-floor flat in a multi-storey apartment on Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru, where delivery agents were barred from entering the building.
The delivery agent called the customer from the reception, only to be told to carry the box up the stairs — something the building guard outright refused to allow. The situation escalated quickly, with the customer hurling severe verbal abuse at the agent.
The distressed agent contacted his supervisor at Gati, who in turn called Sankar, explaining that the customer was refusing delivery — a serious issue since fresh produce could not be returned.
Sankar decided to intervene personally. Speaking in the local language helped cut through the confusion, and when he spoke directly to the agent, he found him close to tears, shaken by the abuse.
Even the building guard confirmed that the customer was notoriously ill-tempered with everyone.
After hearing both sides, Sankar called the customer, firmly reprimanded him, issued an on-the-spot refund, and told the agent to keep the apples. Instead of taking them home, the agent shared the box with his entire office. The gesture left a lasting impression — for the next two years, the agent regularly ordered apples for his colleagues because he loved the product, and even after leaving logistics altogether, he continues to order a box for his home every year.
The third incident with warehouse staff
When Sankar began shipping with Blue Dart, another telling moment stayed with him. One October evening, after a routine drop at their warehouse, a member of his team called to say the staff there wanted to speak to him. The supervisor told Sankar that the apples smelled so good that the team wanted to buy some for themselves, even offering to pool ₹100 each to order two boxes after seeing the price on the invoice. Sankar laughed — and instead, with the very next consignment, sent five boxes of apples for the entire night-shift staff.
He later heard that the day-shift workers were disappointed to have missed out, so he sent five more boxes for them as well. What started as a small, spontaneous gesture turned into a tradition: every year since, Sankar makes it a point to send apples to the Blue Dart warehouse staff ahead of Diwali, a simple way of acknowledging the people who work behind the scenes.
Swiggy delivery driver incident
Most recently, in 2025, Sankar came across a differently-abled Swiggy partner “riding a two wheeler in Versova with one arm.”
It alarmed me how the ops at Swiggy was allowing this. I raised it here on X. One of their core ops people finally realised this was serious, I wouldn't let it go and dropped me a line that this will be looked into and such staff will be accommodated in other roles as they need employment,” he said.