Zomato, Swiggy offer increased payout to gig workers amid strike call by unions on New Year's Eve
New Delhi (PTI): Food delivery platforms Zomato and Swiggy are offering more incentives to their delivery partners, a standard practice they follow on festive periods, to ensure minimal disruptions in services on New Year's Eve amid strike call by gig workers' unions.
Telangana Gig and Platform Workers' Union (TGPWU) and Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers (IFAT) have claimed that lakhs of workers are set to join the nationwide strike to demand better payouts and improved working conditions.
The strike may affect the operations of food delivery and quick commerce firms like Zomato, Swiggy, Blinkit, Instamart and Zepto on New Year's Eve, when demand is at an all-time high, according to industry sources.
Zomato has offered delivery partners payouts of Rs 120 to Rs 150 per order during peak hours between 6 pm and 12 am on New Year's Eve. The platform has also promised earnings of up to Rs 3,000 over the course of the day, subject to order volumes and worker availability, people in the know of the development said.
In addition, Zomato has temporarily waived penalties on order denials and cancellations, they said, however, stressing that it was a standard operating protocol followed during high-demand festive and year-end periods.
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Eternal owns Zomato and Blinkit brands.
Similarly, Swiggy has also increased incentives around the year-end period, offering delivery workers earnings of up to Rs 10,000 across December 31 and January 1, according to people aware of the development.
On New Year's Eve, the platform is advertising peak-hour earnings of up to Rs 2,000 for the six-hour period between 6 pm and 12 am, in a bid to ensure adequate rider availability during one of the busiest ordering windows of the year, they said, maintaining that increased payouts were a standard practice during such periods.
In a joint statement, TGPWU and IFAT said, "As of last night, over 1.7 lakh delivery and app-based workers across India have confirmed participation, with numbers expected to rise further by evening".
On the other hand, people in the know said that following the massive December 25 strike, which saw thousands of delivery workers log off platforms across Telangana and other regions, gig workers have announced an escalated nationwide strike on December 31, 2025, said the joint statement of TGPWU and IFAT.
"The December 25 action sent a clear warning to platform companies about falling earnings, unsafe delivery pressure, and loss of dignity at work.
However, companies responded with silence -- no rollback of reduced payouts, no dialogue with workers, and no concrete assurances on safety or working hours. This continued indifference has made today's strike unavoidable," it added.
The Gig and Platform Service Workers Union also announced a nationwide strike on 31 December 2025 to collectively raise demands concerning the rights, welfare and dignity of gig and platform workers across India.
Giving a call to action, it said, "All gig workers, platform workers, digital platform workers, app-based workers, and online freelancers are earnestly requested to participate in the national strike by shutting down all work-related applications and abstaining from providing services on December 31, 2025, thereby making the strike united and effective".
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
