On Thursday, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal addressed accusations that the company’s delivery partners were violating traffic rules in an effort to meet the "10-minute" delivery promise. He pointed to the impatience prevalent in Indian society as the root cause of the rush. In a post on X, Goyal fired back at critics of Zomato's fast delivery model, defending the actions of its delivery partners.
These comments were made in reply to a query from an X user named Ritu Joon, who inquired about Zomato's agent's haste. Requesting an answer regarding delivery agents' traffic rule violations, Joon wrote, "Why are they always in a rush and breaking traffic rules? Is there some indirect incentive for that? This isn't just one or two people's observation, it's a very common one that they are always rushing."
He defended delivery partners over traffic rule violations took to twitter & wrote, "If our delivery partners were the only ones breaking traffic rules, I would take the blame.” "A large number of Indians are always in a rush and breaking traffic rules. What's their "10 minute" incentive to do that? Nothing. We are impatient on the road as a society," he added.
He added that uniformed partners are more easily recognisable, which causes biased perceptions to surface. Since delivery partners are easily noticeable, other traffic violators go unnoticed.
At last, he mentioned, “Let me explain why you usually only notice our delivery partners break traffic rules? Because they are wearing uniforms, and you have a bias against platforms to attribute their behaviour to. But when someone without a uniform breaks traffic rules, you usually don't remember it later, because you don't have any platform to attribute it to.”
At the heels of a nationwide strike by gig workers on 31st December, Deepinder Goyal's statement defending delivery partners over traffic rule violations comes just one day after workers from platforms like Zomato, Swiggy, and Amazon protested on New Year's Eve. The strike was in response to low pay, lack of social security, and poor working conditions.
Zomato Increases Delivery Partner Incentives Amid Protests
Zomato raised delivery partner incentives during New Year's Eve peak hours due to expected high demand but clarified the hike was unrelated to the strike. A spokesperson for Zomato’s parent company, Eternal, explained that the increase is part of the standard protocol during festive periods.
In response to the protests, Deepinder Goyal posted on Instagram on January 1, stating that local law enforcement helped maintain order, allowing over 4.5 lakh delivery partners to deliver more than 75 lakh orders without any extra incentives. He emphasized that New Year's Eve incentives were in line with previous years.
