Deepinder Goyal wants to hire only supremely fit people for a new startup. Is this even allowed legally?

Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal’s call for engineers for his longevity venture, Temple, came with a caveat–they need to be supremely fit. Lawyers say regulations do not bar an employment contract from attaching a health metric to a job profile as long as the criteria are clearly defined and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, religion or race.

Goyal, founder of Eternal Ltd (formerly Zomato), posted on Friday that his new company will hire engineers for analog systems, electronics design, deep learning, and machine learning model development for physiological metrics, and computational neuroscientists. The venture launched in 2025 aims to explore ways to improve human healthspan and understand the biological processes of ageing.

In his social media post, Goyal said the team was “building for people who push their bodies to the edge. We want to be those people, not just serve them. So only people who take fitness seriously, and have body fat <16% (men) and 26% (women) should apply. If you're not there yet but will commit to getting there in three months, you can apply too; but you'll be on probation until you are”.

Such low body fat levels are found in athletes.

“Indian contract law does not expressly prohibit employers from prescribing health-related criteria for a role. Since the parameter is being pitched as job-linked (as the post puts it, “people who will wear what they build”), it may be argued as defensible in principle,” said Aditi Verma Thakur, managing partner, who looks into commercial, employment and data law advisory for Aishani Partners.

Thakur, however, said the condition to reach lower body fat levels within three months suggests it is an “open-ended probation, where confirmation is conditional on achieving a physical outcome”. “Probation in India is generally expected to be time-bound and reasonable, and for certain categories of employees (where standing orders/labour protections apply), an indefinite probation construct can be vulnerable to challenge.”

BMI-linked hiring common

Some sectors have body mass index (BMI), which estimates body fat, as a hiring parameter.

“There are industries where one can draw a clear correlation between the work profile and need for certain physical and physiological skills, like we have seen in aviation, hospitality, armed forces, etc,” said Gerald Manoharan, partner for employment, corporate at JSA Advocates & Solicitors. “But, the correlation cannot be arbitrary because, as per policy, employment has to be fair with equal opportunities for all”

Eternal (on behalf of Deepinder Goyal) did not respond to Mint’s queries.

Over the past few years, especially since the pandemic, India Inc has increased its focus on the health of its employees. Last September, Mint reported that audit and consulting firm Deloitte informed its top 1000 hands that those who did not complete their annual health check-up will have to pay a hefty penalty: ₹1 lakh for partners and ₹50,000 for executive directors.

Companies have introduced mandatory annual health check-ups, access to hospitals and therapists, insurance policies that include partners and even gender surgeries. In 2024, Mint had reported how Aditya Birla Health Insurance decided to amalgamate employee health goals into performance metrics. This means reviews will factor in weight management, improved sleep patterns, or healthier eating habits.

Legal implications

“There is no statutory embargo against an employer for setting out certain criteria that cover specific physical standards while recruiting for a post,” said Anshul Prakash, partner-employment, labour & benefits, Khaitan & Co.

“Legal implications may arise only if any conditions create a perceived discriminatory scenario. For instance, people of a certain race or religion. etc, only can apply,” said Prakash. He pointed out that they have seen companies “take health of their employees more seriously and push for more annual check-ups even when they are not working in hazardous conditions”.

Temple was conceived as an early-stage platform that could bring together scientists, researchers, and technologists working on ageing-related challenges. In February, Goyal stepped down as group chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director of Eternal to focus on scaling Temple.

The startup raised $54 million in its first round of funding from “friends and family” at a post-money valuation of about $190m, Goyal said in a LinkedIn post.

“Every investor in this round is a founder friend or early-stage Zomato investor who wanted in, whether or not Temple ever makes it to market,” he wrote. “We are assembling a dream team to build the ultimate wearable for elite performance athletes.”