Dropping '10-minute' branding was a suggestion in good faith: Zepto CEO

Zepto founder Aadit Palicha said the labour minister's suggestion to remove "10-minute" delivery branding was made in good faith, as quick commerce platforms work with the government on gig worker wel

Aadit Palicha, founder and chief executive officer of quick commerce (qcom) firm Zepto, on Wednesday said the suggestion by the Union labour minister to remove the “10-minute” delivery promise from the branding and advertising initiatives of qcom platforms was made in good faith.

 

What did Aadit Palicha say about the government’s suggestion on branding? 

“Our hope is to partner with the government and serve its initiatives in taking our country forward. Of course, we are not perfect and we are always open to inputs from the government on how we can improve. This is what we did recently when Mansukh Ji gave us a good-faith suggestion to remove ‘10 minutes’ from our branding,” Palicha wrote in a social media post following a meeting with Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.

 

Why did quick commerce platforms drop the 10-minute delivery promise? 

Last week, several qcom platforms, including Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, BigBasket and Blinkit, dropped the 10-minute delivery promise after the ministry intervened over concerns around the working conditions of gig workers.

 

What did Palicha say about employment and gig worker payouts? 

Palicha said the minister was clear that his end goal is to continue growing employment and economic mobility generated by platform-based businesses. According to data shared by Palicha, Zepto has created employment for over 180,000 delivery partners and more than 40,000 store personnel, truck drivers and warehouse operators. He also noted that the company disburses thousands of crore rupees in payouts to its workforce every year.

 

What steps have platforms taken on delivery partner welfare? 

In addition, while sharing the results for the third quarter of FY26, Eternal, the parent firm of qcom platform Blinkit, said that Zomato and Blinkit spent over ₹100 crore on insurance coverage alone for delivery partners in 2025.

 

“At our end, the wellbeing of gig workers has always been a key priority, and we have proactively put in place welfare programmes for our delivery partners such as offering free-of-cost insurance — medical, accident, loss of pay and maternity cover — among multiple other benefits,” the company said in a statement.