Here's why Zomato's Blinkit is showing 'temporarily unavailable'
2 min read 15 Apr 2023, 01:11 PM ISTBlinkit store is undergoing maintenance. The team is working to fix it, the comapny wrote
PremiumZomato's grocery unit Blinkit has become 'temporarily unavailable' after netizens shared their grievances on social media. Since yesterday, around 50 stores of food delivery platform Zomato's Blinkit are shut as bike riders have stopped working, demanding better wages.
Blinkit on Twitter informed its customers about the failed services.
“Hi there, please accept our sincere apologies. Your Blinkit store is undergoing maintenance. We understand the hassle this must be causing you. Our teams are working on fixing this at the earliest," it wrote.
Zomato has introduced some changes in the pay structure. As per the revised pay structure of Blinkit employees, its delivery executives would receive a minimum of ₹15 per delivery instead of ₹25 per delivery within 1 km.
And if their travel distance exceeds 1 km, they get an additional per km earning which ranges from ₹10 to ₹14.
Zomato last year bought Blinkit for $550 million.
Earlier Blinkit was called Grofers. According to Medianama, a Blinkit delivery executive said that when he worked at Blinkit (when its name was Grofer), he used to earn ₹50 per order. However, when the company transitioned its name to Blinkit, its earnings were reduced to (on average) ₹25 per order. Now, under Zomato’s leadership, the earnings have been reduced to ₹15 per transitioned its name to Blinkit, its earnings were reduced to (on average) ₹25 per order. Now, under Zomato’s leadership, the earnings have slashed to ₹15 per order.
Videos on social media showed hundreds of Blinkit bike riders protesting and raising slogans against the introduction of a payment structure they say will reduce their per-order earnings.
At one Blinkit store in the Noida region near New Delhi, a security staff officer told Reuters no delivery riders had picked up orders since April 11 and the store was shut.
BJP leader Kapil Mishra hit out at the Blinkit management team in connection with the issue. "Some Blinkit employees met me today. The injustice Blinkit is doing to its employees is illegal. The Blinkit management is playing with the lives of lakhs of families. It must implement the old payment structure immediately. Reduction from ₹25 per delivery to ₹10-15 is cheating with the employees," Mishra tweeted in Hindi.
Blinkit has around 400 stores in India, of which 50 were shut, mostly in and around New Delhi are shut since Friday.
Blinkit competes with other big delivery firms, including top retailer Reliance-backed Dunzo, Tata's BigBasket and SoftBank-backed Swiggy in India's fast-growing grocery market.
Zomato's other food delivery services continued normally.
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