Swiggy faces challenges after delivery workers go on strike in Mumbai

The delivery workers have been protesting since Sunday due to an alleged change in their incentive structure

Food aggregator platform Swiggy has experienced disruptions in its services in several areas of Mumbai, as many of its delivery workers have gone on strike. Deliveries for the company’s quick commerce arm, Instamart, have also been affected.

The delivery workers have been protesting since Sunday against an alleged change in their incentive structure, reduced pay, and an increase in delivery radius, Business Standard has learnt.

The partners, who are gig workers and not directly employed by the company, used to receive a fixed payout of ~20 per order within a delivery radius of 5 kilometres (km). Beyond this range, they would receive additional incentives based on the distance.

 

Under the new structure, while the fixed commission remains the same, workers will no longer receive any additional bonus if orders exceed the 5-km range.

Although Swiggy did not respond to queries sent to the company, it stated that its services were unavailable due to “operational constraints” in response to customer queries on X (formerly Twitter).

“A select few locations in Mumbai have seen operational disruptions. The incentive structure was changed about a month ago for a few delivery workers who have been working with the company for a long time. It affects a small number of delivery executives — around 100–150 of them,” said a person familiar with the situation.

As a result of the protests, deliveries in many parts of the city, such as Bandra, Andheri, Dadar, and others, have been either delayed or unserviceable.

The strike was initially initiated by workers who were part of the Rashtriya Karmachari Sena, which later led other groups to join across Mumbai as well. The protesting workers have also been preventing other delivery executives from completing orders.