Commerce Ministry Takes Cognisance Of Gig Workers’ Skewed Working Conditions, Quick Commerce Impact

After receiving a letter from a gig workers’ collective, the commerce ministry has taken a cognisance of skewed working conditions of the gig workers as well as the impact of quick commerce models on kirana stores.

As per NDTV Profit’s report, the commerce and industry ministry responded to the letter from the Forum for Progressive Gig Workers in India which flagged the poor conditions of workers as well as repeated faulty deliveries due to a lack of quality checks.

The report said the ministry responded saying the state of working conditions are forwarded to the concerned ministry.

The forum’s convenor K Narasimhan initially drafted a letter to the ministry on August 21, highlighting the key issues, as per the report.

“While the convenience of quick commerce is undeniable, there have been reports of products being delivered that are close to their expiry dates and not meeting the guidelines mandated by the Department of Consumer Affairs,” the letter said.

The letter further highlighted that many quick commerce platforms failed to comply with this requirement but either mentioned ‘shelf life’ on its platform or have put the burden on consumers to check the expiry dates after they have bought the food product.

“Further, your recommendations regarding protecting kirana shops from quick commerce models have been noted by this department for necessary action,” the letter from the ministry stated.

This comes at a time when the Centre has already stepped into the matter of “unchecked expansion” of quick commerce platforms such as Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart is hurting India’s kirana sector.

Multiple government ministries have begun examining whether the unfettered growth of quick commerce is “unfairly disrupting” the business of traditional mom-and-pop (kirana) stores.