"There are nights when I just stand on the road till morning. No orders, no money. Just waiting,” he said. It is 2.30 am.
The road is eerily quiet with a flickering streetlight. Ali stands there braving the winter chills near Rajender Nagar, his phone clutched tightly in one hand, waiting for his Zomato app to show orders. It has been over an hour, but no luck.
The 24-year-old had come to Delhi six months ago to earn enough to help pay for his sister’s wedding in Bihar and to fund the treatment of his elder brother, who has been unwell for over a year. Instead, most of what he earns disappears before it reaches home – lost to penalties, vehicle rent, and deductions he barely understands. Ali works from 6 pm to 9 am, a 15-hour shift that stretches across the city’s most unsafe hours. When he first arrived in Delhi, he hoped to continue his bachelor’s degree at Delhi University. Family emergencies forced him to abandon his studies.
Today, he rents a small room in the Jama Masjid area for Rs 2,500 per month and survives by stitching together two jobs: delivery rider at night and mobile technician during the day in Karol Bagh.
Amid growing protests by gig workers in Delhi, even as unions have written to the Labour Minister and approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), alleging exploitative and coercive practices by app-based platforms, the reporter spoke to several gig workers in the capital to know that even when the 10-minute delivery enforcement has been revoked, the other struggles persist.
The price of being logged in
In six months, Ali has paid penalties worth Rs 1,150 on five separate occasions. His delivery ID has been blocked multiple times by Zomato. Each time, he has had to deposit additional money just to resume work. “Instead of saving, I keep paying the company. Penalties, deposits, daily EV bike rent – everything is from my pocket,” said Ali.
Like most gig workers, Ali is not considered an employee.
He has no appointment letter, no salary slip, and no ID card. His proof of employment is limited to a uniform and a series of selfies the app demands at pickup points, delivery locations, and random checkpoints. Miss one, and deactivation follows. “How do I prove to anyone that I work for this company?” Only the app knows because they ask us to send a selfie after reaching the location,” he said.
Waiting is also labour
Late-night deliveries bring a different kind of fear. Ali said that thieves often stop him, demanding money. He has narrowly escaped several times. “Standing on the road at night is also work. But nobody pays for waiting,” he said.
Customers cancel orders midway. Addresses change. Complaints are filed casually. Each incident pushes workers closer to penalties or suspension. There is no hearing, no explanation. The client, he said, is treated as infallible.
Girish has been working for a year. He describes the job as “modern-day slavery”. “Clients are gods,” says Girish (name changed), a Blinkit delivery partner in his 20s. “And us, we are helpless,” he said. Girish said the system is designed to exploit workers’ vulnerability.
“They take work from us in such a way that you end up feeling sorry for your own helplessness,” he says. Despite completing 15–16 deliveries a day, he struggles to make ends meet. Even a single negative rating can lead to the immediate blocking of a delivery partner’s ID. “To get back on the platform, we have to pay again. There is no justice because there is no place to even explain our side,” he added.
When safety becomes optional
Sexual harassment is another reality rarely discussed for these gig workers. One of the gig workers associated with the Urban Company recounts an incident involving a transgender customer who allegedly touched him inappropriately. “I had to run, leaving my things behind.” He added,
“This customer touched me inappropriately during a service. I complained. Still, the same customer booked me again four times. Earlier the company used to call us to ask for a reason for poor ratings from a customer, but now we don’t receive any calls; we have to attend to the customer irrespective of our wish.”
Despite filing a complaint through the helpline, no action was taken. Instead, the customer filed complaints that affected the worker’s ratings. His ID was eventually blocked. “How do you justify this? Our complaints go into a box that never opens,” he said.
Most platforms now rely on AI-run helplines. Human responses are rare. Callbacks, when they come, often arrive 20-30 minutes later – too late in situations involving harassment or danger.
“If something happens to us at 10 or 11 at night, who will help? The app?” he said.
Reality of women gig workers
Women form a growing yet fragile segment of Delhi’s gig economy. Many enter platform-based work seeking financial independence, often as single mothers, divorcees, or women living alone. Yet, high attrition remains common, as rigid rules and unsafe working conditions push many out within months. Most women are concentrated in beauty services, care work, and domestic services, where flexibility is promised but rarely delivered.
Speaking to one of the members of the gig workers union in Delhi, she said, “New platform regulations, especially in companies like Urban Company, have made workdays more punishing. Peak-hour mandates from 9-11 am and 4-8 pm shifts that leave little room for caregiving.” A single mother leaves home at 8 am for a morning job, locking her daughter inside because she has no support system. On days when her child needs to go to school, she must request customers for a delay. If a customer complains, her rating drops; repeated complaints can lead to her ID being blocked – cutting off her only source of income.
“Recently a single mother working with the Urban Company lost her 15-year-old daughter, who committed suicide at home,” she said.
She added, “Safety is another unresolved concern. A Delhi-based worker has repeatedly requested a hub change from Mehrauli after facing harassment and filing a police complaint. Despite sharing official documents, the company’s response has been limited to automated replies, ‘ticket has been raised’, with no resolution for over two months. She continues to work out of compulsion.”
Not only this, but there are complaints from the female workers about how men also book their services, showing themselves as females on the app, and such customers misbehave with the workers, and ultimately the workers have to end the job at their own risk of getting their ID blocked.
Delivery timelines further endanger workers. Reaching a job within 30 minutes – often across long distances like Shahdara to Indirapuram – means rushing through traffic, society entry delays, and unsafe commutes.
Several women have met with accidents, a union member said. In one case, a worker who fractured her leg was asked to submit proof to justify cancelling jobs. “Even pain needs documentation,” the union member added.
She further shared, “Earnings, too, are misleading. Bundle bookings advertised at `1,200 often leave workers with just `200-`250 after commissions, product costs, and travel expenses. Weekends are mandatory, heavy kits weighing up to 45 kg must be carried up staircases without lifts, and customer complaints, sometimes malicious, are routinely prioritised over workers’ voices. With AI-run helplines replacing human support, women gig workers find themselves unheard, overworked, and expendable in a system built on their labour.”
Workers union move human rights body
The Gig and Platform Service Workers Union (GIPSWU) moved the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), alleging that labour practices prevalent in India’s gig economy amount to forced labour in violation of the Constitution.
In a submission dated January 12, the union urged the NHRC to take cognisance of what it described as a “serious and urgent” breach of Article 23, which prohibits forced labour. The complaint argues that app-based platforms impose rigid, target-driven and time-bound work regimes through algorithmic management systems, effectively leaving workers with little real choice. According to the union, opaque performance metrics, continuous surveillance, penalties, and the constant threat of income loss create conditions of economic coercion, particularly for workers who are entirely dependent on platform earnings for survival.
GIPSWU cited the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in People’s Union for Democratic Rights vs Union of India (1982), which held that forced labour is not limited to physical or legal compulsion but also includes work extracted through economic pressure where refusal is not a genuine option. The union argued that in the gig economy, such coercion is enforced not by supervisors but by algorithms, ratings, and incentive structures.
The submission further stated that these practices disproportionately impact economically and socially marginalised workers, deepening inequality while allowing platforms to evade accountability. The union has sought NHRC intervention to examine systemic human rights violations in the gig economy and recommend corrective measures.
We tried approaching Zomato, Urban Company and Blinkit’s CEO for a response, but none of them responded to the queries.
Many promises take little shape
The Delhi government had announced plans last year to constitute a welfare board for gig and platform workers and frame schemes aimed at improving their working conditions, though no concrete mechanism has been put in place so far. The announcement was made by Delhi Labour Minister Kapil Mishra on May 16, 2025, raising expectations among thousands of workers in the city’s v expanding gig economy.
Mishra had made the promise while chairing a meeting with gig workers and representatives of major platforms and aggregators, including Swiggy, Zomato, Blinkit, Uber, UrbanClap, and BigBasket. According to an official statement, the meeting served as a forum for gig workers to directly present their concerns to both the government and platform companies.
“All these problems will be addressed with the cooperation of platforms and aggregators,” Mishra had said. “The government will constitute a welfare board for gig and platform workers and will frame schemes for their welfare.” He also sought to reassure platform companies, stating that they would not face harassment from inspectors or government officials.
To support these initiatives, the Delhi government had earmarked `10 crore in its FY26 budget. Officials had said the funding would be used to design welfare schemes providing financial security, insurance coverage, and other benefits for gig workers, many of whom operate in the unorganised sector without formal social protection.
The proposed benefits included Rs 10 lakh life insurance coverage and Rs 5 lakh accidental insurance. According to labour department officials, committees will be formed to study existing welfare policies implemented in other states and draft a framework tailored to the specific needs of gig and platform workers in Delhi.
The gig economy is one of the fastest-growing employment sectors in India, currently engaging nearly one crore workers nationwide. As per NITI Aayog estimates, this number is expected to rise sharply to 2.4 crore by 2029–30. In Delhi alone, approximately five lakh gig and platform workers form a crucial part of the city’s workforce, underscoring the sector’s economic importance.
In a related development last week, Mishra directed labour department officials to expedite efforts to bring unorganised gig, platform, and construction workers under the ambit of social security. He also instructed them to align Delhi’s labour code rules with those framed by the Union government.
“The department has been asked to study the rules pre-published by the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment and, where necessary, align Delhi’s rules with central provisions to maintain uniformity in implementation,” Mishra said, adding that all pending rules under the four labour codes should be finalised at the earliest to enable the rollout of welfare schemes and benefits in the capital.
Survival on thin margins
At 6 am, Rafiq starts his auto near Delhi Gate. By night, he clocks 120 km, earning about `850 on paper. After CNG, rent and daily expenses, barely `200 remains. In Mayur Vihar, Aman logs into a delivery app, his income ruled by algorithms. Fuel and incentives eat away
20-25% of his earnings. At the end of the day, both count what’s left and wonder how long it will last.
Untold Hardships that gig workers face
1Low and decreasing pay: Workers reported reduced rates per delivery and increased commission charges taken by platforms (rising from 5% to 30%)
2 Unsafe conditions and pressure: The “10-minute” delivery model places immense pressure on riders, increasing risk of accidents due to traffic, weather, and fatigue
3 Arbitrary account deactivation: Workers face sudden, unexplained suspensions or terminations, losing their income without proper grievance redressal mechanisms
4 Lack of benefits: There is a significant lack of insurance, paid leave, or social security, leaving workers to bear all costs if injured or sick
5 Customer fraud: Workers are often scammed by customers using fake payment screenshots or false non-delivery claims, which lead to penalization
6 Operational issues: Complaints include unfair penalties, lack of compensation for waiting times, and a demand for better support
7 No company support: Workers have alleged that the company doesn’t seek any justification from the worker and if something goes wrong with the worker, the company still doesn’t cater to the complaint or takes any action