Eternal Chief Executive Officer Deepinder Goyal said most delivery partners did not want to participate in the strike on New Year's Day, noting that a “0.1%” group of miscreants created disruption. According to him, these individuals were illegally snatching parcels from riders who wished to continue working, assaulting them and threatening to damage their bikes, prompting local law enforcement to intervene.
Goyal said the people creating trouble were largely riders who had earlier been terminated from the platform for repeated abuse and fraud. He alleged that such individuals had engaged in impersonation, stealing food, and absconding with cash collected from customers, among other violations. He added that these former partners were trying to pressure the company into reinstating them and were “perhaps being supported and instigated by politically motivated individuals” seeking media attention through chaos.
Most of our delivery partners did not want to go on a strike yesterday. The 0.1% miscreants I mentioned in the tweet below were illegally snatching parcels from those who wanted to work, beating them up, and threatening to damage their bikes. Which is why local law authorities⦠https://t.co/gAqbUlyOu5
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) January 1, 2026
Addressing concerns about 10-minute delivery, Goyal said the promise is driven by the density of stores near customers, not by asking riders to speed. He stated that delivery partners do not have timers on their app showing the originally promised delivery time. Orders on Blinkit, he said, are picked and packed within 2.5 minutes, after which riders travel less than 2 km in about 8 minutes, averaging around 15 kmph.
Goyal acknowledged why many people assume 10-minute delivery must involve unsafe driving, but argued that the reality lies in the complexity of system design, not speed pressure. He urged people to speak directly with delivery partners to understand why “millions of Indians voluntarily take up platform work and sometimes even prefer it to regular jobs.”
One more thing. Our 10 minute delivery promise is enabled by the density of stores around your homes. Itâs not enabled by asking delivery partners to drive fast. Delivery partners donât even have a timer on their app to indicate what was the original time promised to theâ¦
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) January 1, 2026
While noting that “no system is perfect,” Goyal said the situation is being misrepresented on social media by people who do not understand how the platform operates. He added that if he were outside the system, he too might believe gig workers were being exploited, but maintained that this perception is “not true.”
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