Delivery

Recent FDA crackdowns over hygiene and temperature lapses are pushing Blinkit, Zepto, and Instamart to add dedicated store-level checkers as rapid order volumes strain dark store operations.

Non-shipping services such as cross-border tools and checkout software now drive over a quarter of total revenue and are growing three times faster than core logistics, managing director and CEO Saahil Goel told Mint.

Many people like groceries and other stuff delivered right to their doorsteps. But then, speed is overrated. Good old kirana stores offer some valuable to those with a surplus of time—and want to compare apples with apples.

The survey highlighted that many migrants who move to urban centres face loneliness and social isolation despite financial gains. This affects their mental well health and productivity at work, and can lead to early attrition, increasing costs for employers, it said.

The instinct to rein in quick commerce masks an abdication of responsibility. Unsafe roads, weak rule enforcement and poor labour oversight are failures of governance, not delivery apps. Expecting them to fill these gaps may be politically easy, but dodges the work of fixing institutions.

Social media has emerged as a parallel income stream, an extension of their primary gig, because it lowers entry barriers and rewards visibility.

The earnings of a gig worker are shaped less by fixed wages and more by a constantly shifting balance of supply and demand.