Zomato and Blinkit shelled out INR 100 Cr in premium last year to cover their gig armies. Eternal CEO Deepinder Goyal made the declaration amid a raging storm over the wellbeing of the personnel who zip through the traffic to deliver orders to our doorsteps.

“These premiums are borne entirely by us, and the benefits are administered with record speed without any fuss,” Goyal said in response to a flurry of questions from X users. “The coverage includes: Accident insurance with a coverage of up to INR 10 lakh, medical insurance with a coverage of INR 1 lakh plus OPD coverage of INR 5,000, loss-of-pay insurance of up to INR 50,000 and maternity insurance with a coverage of up to INR 40,000.”

But that wasn’t enough. “One of the Zomato delivery partners, Mohammad Shahnawaz, was seriously injured while delivering a 10-minute order in Hyderabad and is still awaiting insurance coverage,” Telangana Gig and Platform Worker Union (TGPWA) reacted to his tweet.

TGPWA president Sheikh Salauddin, who led a protest by gig workers on the New Year eve and Christmas Eve against 10-minute delivery platforms, told Inc42 that the “so called insurance coverage” claims by the platforms nullify if they do not address the urgent medical needs of the workers who get injured at work.

“We want to ask why most of the delivery partners do not receive these covers in time, essentially when they are hospitalised. No cashless treatment is available under these covers and no medical facility accepts us on the premise of our gig-worker ID since we do not have sufficient incomes. In a majority of such cases, it is out-of-the-pocket expenditure, which is hard to arrange under medical emergencies,” he said.

The strike call by leaders like Salauddin didn’t resonate loud enough on the New Year eve and platforms like Eternal-run Zomato and Blinkit, Swiggy and its quick commerce arm Instamart, and Zepto logged in record businesses, but nothing could stub out the fire for cover with the latest push from the government stepping up the heat on the delivery platforms.

The Current State Of Cover For Gigs

After the government floated the draft guidelines under the Code on Social Security 2020 to ensure life and other health insurance benefits to the platform workers, Eternal kicked off a nationwide drive to register its workers with various government schemes to secure these benefits for them.

In a statement last November, the company reportedly said it will help 6,000 delivery partners across the country to register for government welfare schemes. The projected number, however, comes at an abysmal fraction of nearly 4.7 Lakh gig workers enlisted with Zomato and Blinkit, according to the Eternal annual report for FY25.

The last two years also saw the quick commerce big three – Swiggy Instamart, Blinkit and Zepto – announcing tie-ups with large insurance companies and launching safety initiatives for their delivery partners.

Swiggy had nearly two years back said it had been paying more than INR 30 Cr in insurance claims annually over the previous few years. Over 15% of the claims were related to family........

© Inc42