Insurance Promises Vs Ground Reality: Gig Workers Push Back on Zomato, Swiggy Claims

Zomato and Blinkit shelled out INR 100 Cr in premium last year to cover their gig armies. Eternal CEO Deepinder Goyal made the declaration amid a raging storm over the wellbeing of the personnel who zip through the traffic to deliver orders to our doorsteps. 

“These premiums are borne entirely by us, and the benefits are administered with record speed without any fuss,” Goyal said in response to a flurry of questions from X users. “The coverage includes: Accident insurance with a coverage of up to INR 10 lakh, medical insurance with a coverage of INR 1 lakh plus OPD coverage of INR 5,000, loss-of-pay insurance of up to INR 50,000 and maternity insurance with a coverage of up to INR 40,000.” 

But that wasn’t enough. “One of the Zomato delivery partners, Mohammad Shahnawaz, was seriously injured while delivering a 10-minute order in Hyderabad and is still awaiting insurance coverage,” Telangana Gig and Platform Worker Union (TGPWA) reacted to his tweet. 

TGPWA president Sheikh Salauddin, who led a protest by gig workers on the New Year eve and Christmas Eve against 10-minute delivery platforms, told Inc42 that the “so called insurance coverage” claims by the platforms nullify if they do not address the urgent medical needs of the workers who get injured at work.

“We want to ask why most of the delivery partners do not receive these covers in time, essentially when they are hospitalised. No cashless treatment is available under these covers and no medical facility accepts us on the premise of our gig-worker ID since we do not have sufficient incomes. In a majority of such cases, it is out-of-the-pocket expenditure, which is hard to arrange under medical emergencies,” he said.

The strike call by leaders like Salauddin didn’t resonate loud enough on the New Year eve and platforms like Eternal-run Zomato and Blinkit, Swiggy and its quick commerce arm Instamart, and Zepto logged in record businesses, but nothing could stub out the fire for cover with the latest push from the government stepping up the heat on the delivery platforms. 

The Current State Of Cover For Gigs 

After the government floated the draft guidelines under the Code on Social Security 2020 to ensure life and other health insurance benefits to the platform workers, Eternal kicked off a nationwide drive to register its workers with various government schemes to secure these benefits for them. 

In a statement last November, the company reportedly said it will help 6,000 delivery partners across the country to register for government welfare schemes. The projected number, however, comes at an abysmal fraction of nearly 4.7 Lakh gig workers enlisted with Zomato and Blinkit, according to the Eternal annual report for FY25. 

The last two years also saw the quick commerce big three – Swiggy Instamart, Blinkit and Zepto – announcing tie-ups with large insurance companies and launching safety initiatives for their delivery partners. 

Swiggy had nearly two years back said it had been paying more than INR 30 Cr in insurance claims annually over the previous few years. Over 15% of the claims were related to family members of the delivery partners, it said. 

Swiggy, Zomato and Zepto pay the annual insurance premiums for the gig workers they engage without any deductions from their salaries, unlike most employers hiring formal or even contractual workers.

“The premium for gig partners’ insurance at Swiggy is borne entirely by the company with zero contribution from the partners. The company actively works with the insurance provider to ensure that all eligible delivery partners can avail of the insurance cover that they are entitled to as per the policy,” Swiggy had said earlier.

Insurance is often framed as a voluntary enhancement to the mandatory contribution of 1-2% of a platform’s annual turnover – capped at 5% of payments to the workers – to a social security fund under the draft guidelines of Social Security Code 2020. 

“But, none of these platforms are obligated or mandated by the existing laws to provide insurance cover to the gig workers. They only need to allocate a certain portion of their turnover to the social benefits of these workers which may or may not include insurance coverage,” Bikash Choudhary, who heads the insurance vertical of fintech FatakPay, pointed out. 

Zomato’s insurance coverage, for instance, details provisions  that cover death, disability and loss of pay, as well as personal accident benefits typically tied to active delivery work. Zomato describes this as part of its delivery partner welfare initiative.

The graph shows how Zomato’s insurance premium payments have more than doubled over the years, though it does not state how many claims were settled annually.

Swiggy states that delivery partners receive a range of insurance benefits, including accident coverage, accidental death and  disability cover, loss-of-pay compensation, and in some policies hospitalisation and ambulance services. The coverage is again associated with delivery activity and engagement with the platform. A summary of Swiggy’s insurance benefits lists accident coverage of up to INR 2 Lakh and ambulance services for delivery workers starting with their first order.

Zepto, which has come under scrutiny for alleged dark patterns and exploitative labour practices, introduced the basic accident and health insurance covering OPD costs and telehealth consultations in 2024-25, refuting claims of inadequacy by the worker unions.

Late 2025 announcements  by various quick commerce platforms included festive incentives and safety gear, aligned with social security fund contributions for life and disability benefits. Yet, unions criticise the lack of ESI, PF, or inadequate accident coverage, which only covers extreme injuries during the work hours or loss of life but not other health ailments. 

A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that against their FY25 reported toplines, Eternal and Swiggy are expected to allocate INR 300-400 Cr annually to the social welfare fund for the gig workers, according to the draft labour laws. This is likely to scorch the margins of these consumer internet companies – already grappling with cash burns from their 10-minute delivery turf war. 

Govt Steps In To Secure Lives In Limbo

The government in November mandated coverage for life, disability, health, maternity, and accidents to gig workers under the Social Security Fund. The eligibility requires 90 days working with one platform or 120 days across multiple platforms, along with the e-Shram portal registration.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), accident insurance offers an INR 2 Lakh cover for accidental death or complete disability and INR 1 Lakh for partial disability at a very low premium of INR 20 a year.

The Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) provides an INR 2 Lakh life cover for death due to any cause, but like PMSBY is limited in scope for daily wage workers who face frequent health and income disruption risks.

The registration on the e-Shram portal gives the gig workers a Universal Account Number (UAN) and helps connect them to social security and insurance schemes. 

The labour reforms lined up under the Social Security Code 2020 formally define gig and platform workers as eligible for a range of benefits such as accident and health insurance on registration, but practical hurdles like minimum engagement thresholds and benefit portabilities persist.

These provisions mark progress, but the penetration remains low. At the heart of the problem lies a mismatch between what the gigs demand and what the existing insurance frameworks offer. Inadequate safeguards, limited registrations, low awareness, and structural barriers like irregular incomes and lack of formal contracts leave millions of gig workers vulnerable. 

The gravity of the situation increases as the government estimates that the workforce will grow from 1 Cr to 2.35 Cr in the next five years.

Insufficient Measures Amid Persistent Hurdles

In statements during the pan-India strikes on December 25 and 31, 2025, Salauddin stressed that delivery workers are “pushed to the breaking point by unsafe work models, falling incomes, and total absence of social protection”. 

He pointed to a lack of comprehensive health insurance, accident coverage beyond basics, and pension benefits as critical gaps, with demands like immediate withdrawal of risky, 10-minute models and stronger grievance mechanisms.

A key grievance is the absence of cashless treatment, which forces the workers to pay upfront for medical care, exacerbating financial strain. Salauddin noted that many workers lack guidance on how insurance works, which leads to underutilisation.

Unions like IFAT and TGPWU also decry limited e-Shram registrations. Despite 30 Cr enrollments, many gig workers face barriers due to digital literacy issues and irregular work patterns, rendering them ineligible for benefits, industry analysts told us.

The absence of formal contracts further excludes them from ESI and PF benefits, leaving the coverage tied to their association with the platform such as number of active days engaged with the platform, the ratings associated with the platform, insurance cover after logging out of the platform, cover limits not increasing despite spurt in healthcare costs.

These hurdles, combined with arbitrary ID blocks and alleged algorithmic discrimination, make the existing measures “not sufficient”, as Salauddin asserts, demanding respect, fair wages, and secure conditions.

Gaps In The System, Leaks In The Cover

Choudhary of Fatak Pay shed light on the deeper structural loopholes, drawing from his experience in designing products. “Gig workers typically lack formal contracts and government-mandated benefits like PF and ESIC coverage, which limit their access to standard insurance products,” he argued. 

The absence of PF deductions excludes the workers from the employee state insurance (ESI) scheme, while irregular incomes make traditional monthly premiums out of bounds on individual basis. 

Government schemes like PMJJBY and PMSBY provide only up to INR 2 Lakh accident coverage since 2015, which is not enough to meet the escalating cost of treatment and rising risks. Chowdhury highlighted that linking coverage to active contracts leaves the workers uninsured during gaps, rendering them vulnerable.

“The aggregators or platforms may end up paying a higher premium for the gig workforce because of the risks involved since there may be challenges in determining a reliable source of income. The draft Code on Social Security (Central) Rules, 2025 provides norms for social security for unorganised workers, gig workers and platform workers which is a step in the direction to devise appropriate schemes for their welfare,” Priti Rohira, executive partner at ElpeeCo, said.

Low awareness about insurance among gig workers and the complexities of policies also contribute to confusion and underutilisation.

Efforts like app notifications, WhatsApp communities and videos aim to educate, but cashless claims are still limited, with unclear hospital networks forcing out-of-pocket payments for a majority of the gig workers, according to industry experts.

While regulatory hurdles like no clear mandates to the platforms or apps for providing insurance coverages to millions of gig workers persist, the experts say that the insurance coverages have not increased significantly aligning with rising healthcare costs.

“The products should cover beyond death, include hospitalisation, disability and family benefits, empowering the workers independently, especially given high accident risks among young workforce. The provisions right now are insufficient for health risks or ailments – mostly for extreme events like death or major injuries,” Chowdhary said.

The Code on Social Security 2020 defines a gig worker as someone who performs work or participates in a work arrangement and earns from such activities outside of a traditional employer-employee relationship. The workforce is projected to reach 62 Mn and play a silent driver of India’s Viksit Bharat dream for 2047.

While initiatives by platforms like Swiggy, Zomato and Zepto and various measures by the government offer a glimmer of hope for the workers, the system remains riddled with inadequacies. Inadequate coverage for routine health risks, hurdles in cashless access and registrations, and the absence of mandates leave the gig workers vulnerable to enhanced risks.

Bridging these gaps requires coordinated action with mandatory comprehensive insurance, simplified awareness drives, and policies that are not linked to contracts. Until then, the race for 10-minute deliveries will continue to exact a human toll, underscoring the urgent need for reforms that prioritise lives over logistics.

[Edited By Kumar Chatterjee]