Speed’s Cost

India’s decision to push quick-commerce platforms away from the headline promise of “10-minute delivery” is not a crackdown on innovation; it is a course correction on a model that has normalised risk for convenience.

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The urban consumer has been trained to expect groceries, chargers, and snacks at near-teleport speed, while the worker bearing that speed has remained largely invisible. The recent intervention acknowledges what riders have said for years: velocity is being monetised, safety is being externalised.The timing matters. India’s gig workforce is expanding rapidly, and for a large section of riders this is not pocket money but primary income. When algorithms reward haste and penalise delay, they do more than optimise logistics ~ they reshape behaviour on crowded roads. Tight delivery windows, opaque ratings and income volatility create a constant pressure loop. Even a small traffic snag becomes a financial threat. In such a system, accidents are not aberrations; they are predictable outcomes.