Zomato Pilots Health Cover For Delivery Partners, Families

In what appears to be sops in lieu of loyalty, foodtech giant Zomato is piloting a new initiative under which health cover available for delivery executives will be extendable to their family members.

The health cover of INR 3 Lakh will be available for the kin only if the delivery workers has worked with the Gurugram-based unicorn for 2-3 years. The trials are currently underway in three cities namely New Delhi, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. 

“As (a) loyalty benefit for tenured delivery partners – we are piloting a health cover worth INR 3 Lakh extendable to their families in New Delhi, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad,” said Zomato in a statement.

This was amongst a slew of clarifications that the foodtech giant issued on Tuesday. The foodtech giant claimed that all its delivery partners have a medical cover of INR 1 Lakh, adding that 9,210 Zomato delivery executives were supported with disbursements amounting to INR 15.94 Cr in the financial year 2021-22 (FY22). 

Disbursement claims also soared 5.5X in FY22 compared to FY21. The listed startup, however, did not actually give a specific number of requests disbursed during the period specified. 

The Deepinder Goyal-led unicorn also claimed that it provides INR 10 Lakh worth of life cover for delivery workers, including a dedicated amount for funeral expenses. 

Touting its so-called ‘cover’ for families of delivery executives, Zomato said that it earmarks a mere INR 5,000 worth of OPD support that could be extended to the kin of the drivers. A total of 13,645 partners and their families purportedly availed the service in FY22, with INR 2.3 Cr disbursed in claim amount in the financial year ended March 2022.

Additionally, the startup also said that it earmarks a loss of pay of INR 525 up to INR 50,000 for those drivers who are involved in injuries that cause temporary disability. This, the startup said, was their attempt to ensure ‘delivery partners prioritise their health and are able to fulfil their household responsibilities as they recover before returning to their gig.’

A Vicious Cycle 

This comes days after a 19-year-old delivery executive was killed in an accident in suburban Mumbai after being run over by a cover. Close on the heels of that, a Zomato delivery girl was also killed in Maharashtra’s Nagpur after a head-on collision. 

The spate of such incidents have raised eyebrows about the safety and security of delivery workers, especially in the era of ‘10-minute’ delivery popularised by Zomato itself. The urgency to deliver faster and earn higher has led to many drivers driving recklessly putting their lives and the lives of others around them at peril.

The startups have conspicuously remained absent from the scenario, stepping in sometimes to help the delivery workers. While startups have highlighted their so-called insurance cover for their workers, they largely remained mired in internal red-tape and sometimes no payouts for workers or families. 

This comes despite government think tank NITI Aayog suggesting that new-age tech startups should provide income support to workers on the lines of minimum wage guarantee in the US, besides offering occupational disease and work accident insurance for employees.

Not just this, Zomato has also come under fire for reducing driver margins and for offering poor salaries. Many drivers have previously also taken to the streets to express their anger and to force the management to action to increase their salaries and rationalise their working hours. 

According to an ASSOCHAM report, India’s gig sector is projected to grow to $455 Bn by 2024.