Delhi-based startup CarryMen, which has gone viral for offering shoppers assistants to carry bags through crowded markets, has pushed back against online criticism calling the model exploitative, saying its workers are full-time employees on fixed salaries and not gig workers.
The startup, operating out of Delhi's Lajpat Nagar market, allows customers to hire workers by the hour to carry shopping bags, help navigate crowded lanes and wait in queues.
The company has triggered intense debate online, with critics comparing the service to "modern slavery" and questioning the optics of young workers carrying large shopping loads behind customers.
Speaking to NDTV Profit, CarryMen founder Dr. Ritu Kandari defended the model, arguing that the startup is solving a genuine urban convenience problem while creating structured employment opportunities.
The company said the service is especially useful for elderly shoppers, tourists and families navigating crowded markets such as Lajpat Nagar.
Kandari also rejected comparisons with informal labour models, arguing that CarryMen workers are formally employed by the company and receive fixed compensation structures instead of app-based gig payouts.
The startup's emergence comes amid a broader expansion of India's gig and hyperlocal services economy, where startups are increasingly building businesses around urban convenience and on-demand services.
At the same time, the sector continues to face scrutiny around worker protections, low wages and sustainability of platform-led employment models.
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CarryMen's business model has also reignited questions around how far startups can commercialise convenience services in urban India before ethical concerns begin to outweigh novelty.
The company, however, says customer demand has been strong since launch and expansion plans are already being evaluated for other crowded retail hubs such as Chandni Chowk by July.
For now, CarryMen remains a small operation in one Delhi market. But its rapid viral rise has already turned it into a flashpoint in the wider debate around gig work, labour optics and the future of hyperlocal startup models in India.
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