Food delivery platforms Zomato, Swiggy, and magicpin saw a record surge in orders on New Year’s Eve, proving the industry’s critical role in India’s celebrations despite a nationwide strike call by a section of gig workers demanding better pay and working conditions. Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal highlighted that both Zomato and Blinkit operated at peak efficiency, delivering over 75 lakh orders to more than 63 lakh customers across the country, with strong support from local authorities keeping disruptions minimal. Magicpin echoed the sentiment, noting that metro cities experienced an unbroken flow of orders throughout the evening.
Popular dishes dominated the festive menu, with pizzas, biryani, and butter chicken leading the charts, while desserts like gajar ka halwa and ice cream saw a three-fold increase in demand from last year. Peak dinner orders occurred around 9:30 pm, particularly in Delhi-NCR, where butter chicken topped the list, followed by biryani and dal makhni. Swiggy data highlighted the ongoing pizza versus burger rivalry, with over 2.18 lakh pizzas and 2.16 lakh burgers delivered by 8:30 pm. Dining out also surged, with cities like Bengaluru and Hyderabad leading Swiggy Dineout bookings, while Ahmedabad recorded the fastest growth with a 1.6x jump.
Goyal praised the delivery partners for showing up despite intimidation and cautioned against believing narratives portraying exploitation, emphasizing that India’s gig economy is a major organised job creation engine. He also clarified concerns about quick-commerce deliveries, explaining that Blinkit’s 10-minute delivery promise is achieved through a dense network of stores and careful logistics, not by pressuring riders to speed.
Meanwhile, the Gig & Platform Services Workers Union reported that over one lakh workers participated in the December 31 strike across 22 cities, pressing for fair pay, workplace safety, maternity and emergency leave, and legal recognition of platform workers. Despite the strike, the industry’s New Year performance underscored how deeply food delivery has become woven into India’s urban lifestyle, catering to millions of orders every hour across metro cities.
