Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal backs gig economy, says it forces consumers to confront inequality: ‘Visibility is the price of progress’

A day after posting on X that Zomato and Blinkit clocked “record pace” deliveries on December 31 despite a nationwide gig workers’ strike, CEO Deepinder Goyal mounted a detailed defence of the gig economy, arguing that it has made inequality impossible to ignore.

In a post on January 2, Goyal said gig work has brought the lives of the poor into plain sight. “Suddenly, the poor aren’t hidden away. They’re at your doorstep: the delivery partner handing over your Rs 1000+ biryani, late-night groceries, or quick-commerce essentials,” he wrote.

Over a series of posts spread across two days, Goyal responded to criticism of platform-based work. In what he described as his final post on the subject, he said gig work has fundamentally altered how consumers encounter inequality by forcing daily, face-to-face interactions between the working class and the consuming class. This, he argued, has made inequality personal and emotionally uncomfortable.

In a longer post, Goyal described the realities faced by delivery workers. “You see them in the rain, heat, traffic, often on borrowed bikes, working 8–10 hours for earnings that give them sustenance. You see their exhaustion, their polite smile masking frustration with life in general,” he wrote.

Last one on this topic, and I have been holding this in myself for a while.

For centuries, class divides kept the labor of the poor invisible to the rich. Factory workers toiled behind walls, farmers in distant fields, domestic help in backrooms. The wealthy consumed the fruits…

— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) January 2, 2026

Addressing safety concerns around quick-commerce deliveries, Goyal rejected claims that platforms push riders to speed. He said the 10-minute delivery promise is possible only in areas with a dense network of nearby stores. “It’s not enabled by asking delivery partners to drive fast. Delivery partners don’t even have a timer on their app to indicate what was the original time promised to the customer,” he said in a post dated January 1.

Goyal framed public discomfort with gig work as a moral reaction rather than a systemic critique. “This is the first time in history at this scale that the working class and consuming class interact face-to-face, transaction after transaction,” he wrote, adding that many consumers want delivery workers to “look our part, so that the guilt we feel while taking orders from them feels less”.

He also warned against banning or excessively regulating gig work, saying it could drive workers back into informal jobs with even fewer safeguards. “The gig economy just exposed the reality of inequality to the people who previously had the luxury of not seeing it. The doorbell is not the problem. The question is what we do after opening the door,” he said.

Concluding his remarks, Goyal wrote, “Visibility is the price of progress. We can either use this discomfort to build something better… or we can ban and over-regulate our way back into ignorance.”

Earlier, on January 1, Goyal had addressed strike calls by a section of delivery workers ahead of New Year’s Eve. He said Zomato and Blinkit continued to operate normally and saw unusually high order volumes. He praised delivery partners who chose to work and local authorities who stepped in when some riders were allegedly threatened or blocked.

Zomato and Blinkit delivered at a record pace yesterday, unaffected by calls for strikes that many of us heard over the past few days.

Support from local law enforcement helped keep the small number of miscreants in check, enabling 4.5 lakh+ delivery partners across both…

Goyal claimed disruptions were caused by a small group of terminated workers attempting to force re-entry onto the platforms. He again dismissed allegations that fast delivery targets encourage reckless driving, reiterating that riders are not shown delivery timers.

One more thing. Our 10 minute delivery promise is enabled by the density of stores around your homes. It’s not enabled by asking delivery partners to drive fast. Delivery partners don’t even have a timer on their app to indicate what was the original time promised to the…

Detailing Blinkit’s delivery process, he said orders are typically picked and packed within 2.5 minutes, after which riders travel an average distance of under 2 km in about eight minutes. “That’s an average of 15kmph,” he wrote.