When 10-Minute Delivery Becomes a Death Sentence

Ankush was just 18 years old when he died on his first day as a delivery rider. Fresh from a village in eastern Bihar, he'd rented a cheap electric bike and signed up with Swiggy, one of India's quick commerce giants. His crime? Trying to figure out how to deliver groceries within the mandatory 10-minute deadline while navigating Delhi's chaotic traffic.

The car that killed him at the intersection didn't stop. His colleague Himanshu Pal, 21, watched helplessly as his friend became another casualty of India's obsession with instant delivery. Together with other riders, Pal crowdfunded for an ambulance to take Ankush's body back to his village.

This isn't an isolated tragedy. It's the human cost of a $11.5 billion gig economy that's transforming how 430 million middle-class Indians shop—and how millions of workers risk their lives to serve them.

The Speed Trap

India's rapid delivery services have become the envy of the world. Companies like Swiggy, Zomato, Zepto, and newcomer Amazon Tez compete to deliver everything from groceries to cigarettes within minutes. The sector recorded a staggering 142 percent compound annual growth rate from 2022, with gross orders worth $7 billion in the last financial year alone.

But behind this success story lies a deadly arithmetic. To achieve 10-minute deliveries in traffic-congested cities like Delhi and Mumbai, riders must break traffic rules, ride on the wrong side of roads, and jump signals. The faster they deliver, the more they earn—creating a perverse incentive system where speed literally equals survival.

"The more orders you deliver, the more you earn," explains Pankaj Kumar, a delivery rider in Noida. "If we want to earn money on these platforms, we need to ride faster—flying my bike on the wrong side of the road and jumping signals."

The dangers extend beyond crashes. Workers endure extreme heat, toxic air pollution, and a star-based rating system that leaves them vulnerable to customer abuse. Automated algorithms can deactivate accounts without notice, effectively firing workers for low ratings or customer complaints.

Government Steps In

In early January 2025, after a nationwide strike by gig workers, the Indian government intervened. Officials asked all quick commerce platforms to stop promising "10-minute deliveries," citing dangerous working conditions.

The response was swift but largely cosmetic. Companies removed explicit 10-minute promises from their marketing but continued showing delivery times under 10 minutes on their apps. Karan Taurani from securities firm Elara Capital calls it "optics-driven rather than business-altering."

The fundamental business model remains unchanged: companies leverage cheap "dark stores" in middle-class neighborhoods, keeping hundreds of riders idle at every location, ready to race against the clock without minimum wages or social security.

The Inequality Engine

What makes India's quick commerce model possible—and profitable—are two stark demographic realities. First, the country's urban geography creates pockets of wealth surrounded by poverty, making it easy to position warehouses near affluent customers. Second, India's wealth gap has reached historic highs, providing an endless supply of desperate workers willing to risk their lives for meager pay.

"The Indian middle class is literally riding on the back of the poor," says Vandana Vasudevan, author of "OTP Please!", a 2025 book on gig workers' lives. "They sit at home, extremely pampered by this innovative tech model, but all these privileges come at the cost of workers."

The numbers tell the story: gig workers are projected to rise from 7.7 million in 2021 to 23.5 million by 2030, according to government think tank Niti Aayog. Yet most lack basic protections, working as independent contractors rather than employees.

Fighting Back

Faced with worsening conditions and fluctuating wages, workers are organizing. The Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers led a New Year's Eve strike, demanding transparent algorithms, an end to arbitrary account blocking, and the right to organize protests.

Shaik Salauddin, the federation's national general secretary, says companies responded with "corporate flexing, from PR games to intimidating riders." Some protesters have faced police investigations, adding another layer of risk to an already dangerous job.

The government is drafting new labor laws that would formally recognize gig workers and provide social security benefits. But for now, these remain promises on paper while workers continue to navigate deadly streets with packages and impossible deadlines.