India Urges Quick Comm Platforms to Drop 10-Minute Delivery Deadline for Gig Workers All major quick commerce platforms are likely to drop 10-minute moniker from their platforms.

In a rare move, the Indian government has asked quick commerce platforms to remove the 10-minute delivery deadline.

According to an ANI report, Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya convinced delivery aggregators to remove the deadline. The report added that executives from Blinkit, Swiggy, Zomato, and others were part of the meeting with Mandaviya.

Blinkit has apparently become the first aggregator to remove the "10-minute branding" from its app, and other internet companies are expected to follow suit. Entrepreneur India also verified that the 10-minute branding is no longer visible on the app, though other apps like Zepto were still showing the same.

Heart of the Matter

Quick commerce companies had come under fire over allegations of inadequate conditions for their gig workers, essentially delivery partners who deliver items to customers' doorsteps. On December 31, 2025, several delivery partners went on strike protesting against these quick commerce companies.

The delivery partners sought an end to the pressure of delivering in 10 minutes, as well as better wages and social security, among other things. Concerns regarding delivery partners were raised by several prominent personalities, including politicians and journalists.

Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal also drew criticism for his comments on delivery partners who went on strike, though he also explained the business model and other issues relating to the gig economy in a series of posts on X.

"...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 had said.

It is worth noting that the government is already working on social security for the gig and platform workforce through the Code on Social Security, 2020. According to draft rules, the government has proposed a 90-day annual work threshold as the mandatory eligibility criteria for gig and platform workers to access social security.

India's Quick Commerce Boom

India's quick commerce sector has seen exponential growth in recent years. In FY25, consumers spent over USD 7 billion, which is more than double of the previous fiscal year, on quick commerce platforms, according to an IBEF report. It also estimated that the gross order value will surpass USD 23 billion by FY28.

The market is dominated by players like Blinkit (owned by Zomato), Instamart (Swiggy), and Zepto, among others. The rise of quick commerce has also forced conventional e-commerce players to pivot to include fast deliveries, such as Flipkart Minutes.

The rise of quick commerce also saw the rise of a parallel economy of gig workers. According to NITI Aayog's report titled India's Booming Gig and Platform Economy, gig workers in India are expected to grow to 23.5 million (2.35 crore) by 2029–30. These gig workers earn money through commissions on earnings along with other incentives.

Responding to the intervention by the government, Parliamentarian Raghav Chaddha, who had been actively raising gig workers' cause, said: Satyamev Jayate. Together, we have won..

I am deeply grateful to the Central Government for its timely, decisive and compassionate intervention in enforcing the removal of the "10-minute delivery" branding from quick-commerce platforms. This is a much needed step because when "10 minutes" is printed on a rider's tshirt/ jacket/ bag and a timer runs on the customer's screen, the pressure is real, constant, and dangerous.

This step will help ensure safety of the delivery riders, and everyone who shares our roads."

Industry experts also believe the government intervention was a good move.

"This is a good decision by the Government to nudge Quick Commerce platforms to do away with the 10 minute delivery timeline. It will reduce unnecessary pressure on the riders and dark stores workers while also having a positive impact on road safety", Sachin Taparia, founder of LocalCircles, told Entrepreneur India.

"The Quick Commerce platforms must now also make an effort to remove the Bait & Switch dark pattern that many use to show a short delivery time to the consumer and manipulate it later to prove that they met it", continued Taparia. "Whatever is the delivery time is what should be promised & displayed on the app and if its 5 minutes late, the same should be displayed," he added.

Paul J Emmanuel, founder of analytics firm Two Minute Reports, added that restraining 10 minute deliveries is a good move by the government.

"Recently, Google's Wing partnered with over 150 Walmart stores to enable faster deliveries. Now this is an opportunity for India (may be another UPI moment) to fix this through better drone/delivery technology that works for India. This may be a turning point in redefining the delivery gig-economy," Emmanuel said.