India asks quick-commerce firms to drop 10-minute delivery promise

India's labor minister asked quick-commerce firms to remove marketing that promised 10-minute deliveries and to discuss worker safety, Bloomberg reported; BlinkIt has removed the 10-minute messaging.

India's labor ministry has asked quick-commerce firms to remove marketing that promises 10-minute deliveries and to discuss ways to improve worker safety and conditions. Labor minister Mansukh Mandaviya met with executives from Zomato's BlinkIt, Swiggy's Instamart and Zepto, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources. The ultra-fast delivery model has expanded rapidly in urban India and relies on neighborhood "dark stores" and large delivery workforces. The meeting follows large worker protests and recent legal changes that granted gig and platform workers defined legal status under new labor laws. Key points: - The labor minister asked firms to drop marketing language promising 10-minute deliveries and to address safety and working conditions. - Bloomberg reported that BlinkIt removed the 10-minute messaging and that rivals were expected to follow, according to anonymous sources. - More than 200,000 gig workers reportedly staged protests on New Year's Eve, according to the South China Morning Post citing the Indian Federation of App Based Transport Workers. - India recently granted legal status to gig and platform workers and requires aggregators to contribute to a government-managed social security fund, reported as 1% to 2% of annual revenue (capped at 5% of payments made to such workers). - Government think tank NITI Aayog reported the gig economy employed about 7.7 million workers in 2020-21 and projected growth to 23.5 million by 2029-30. Summary: The development signals increased government scrutiny of ultra-fast delivery models and could affect how quick-commerce firms present delivery promises; BlinkIt has already removed 10-minute messaging and rivals were reported to be expected to follow. Undetermined at this time.