Blinkit protests explained: Why Zomato-owned company is facing backlash over new pay structure?

Grocery and essentials delivering company Blinkit, which prides itself on its 10-minute home deliveries, is currently incurring losses as the mobile app shows many locations in Delhi NCR are temporarily unavailable due to a recent protest roused by the delivery partners.

Blinkit, which is owned by food delivery company Zomato, was ‘temporarily unavailable’ for lakhs of its customers, as reports showed that the company has closed many of its darks stores in parts of Delhi NCR, due to delivery partners going on a protest against the recent revisions in the pay structure.

As per CNBC TV 18, Blinkit has reportedly closed 50 of its stores in Delhi NCR, putting a temporary end to its 10-minute delivery policy in the national capital. This comes due to the lack of delivery partners, and the losses incurred by the company due to pay structure protests.

Why are Blinkit delivery partners protesting?

Blinkit delivery partners took to the streets after the Zomato-owned company revised its pay structure for them, leading to a major pay cut and reducing their salaries by almost 50 percent. The Blinkit protests have also gathered massive wind on social media.

According to its revised pay structure, Blinkit will be paying its delivery persons just Rs 10 to 15 per delivery, as opposed to Rs 25 per delivery as was stated in its old pay structure, cutting the income of the delivery partners by half.

Blinkit, according to estimation, has around 370 dark stores across the country. It is reported that about 25 percent of the total stores are not operating right now, since delivery executives have refused to take orders unless Zomato returns to its old pay structure.

Twitter users also pointed out that Zomato is spending crores on marketing and advertising every month, but is refusing to compensate its delivery executives fairly, attracting a lot of backlash from social media users.

The Blinkit services in many parts of Delhi NCR still remain unavailable for the time being, as the Zomato-owned company struggles against losses incurred due to a shortage of delivery partners and lack of timely deliveries, which is the company’s USP.

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