Unsteady income bane for gig workers

EVEN as the debate around gig workers’ earnings refuses to die down, HR and staffing solution companies point to wide disparities in monthly average incomes and tough work conditions, leading to high attrition rate.

- SANAL SUDEVAN @ Chennai

While Eternal founder Deepinder Goyal has claimed that a delivery partner can earn over %25,000 a month on average, workers’ unions contest this, saying on a normal day gig workers earn %6-211 per delivery. They note that many platforms initially paid as much as %50 per delivery.

A back-of-the-envelope calculation by The New Indian Express suggests, on average, food delivery partners of Eternal (formerly Zomato) earn 713,800 a month, based on data as of September 30, 2025. A year ago, this figure was 710,000. Actual payouts vary: partners who put in longer hours can earn upwards of %50,000 a month.

In a social media post, Goyal said: “In 2025, average earnings per hour (EPH), excluding tips, for a delivery partner on Zomato were 7102. In 2024, this number was %92, a 10.9% YoY rise. Over