Vikrant, 29, has been riding for Zomato since 2019. Six years on the road, at least twelve hours a day. He knows Delhi-NCR’s summers well enough to have learned the small tricks of survival. He can tell which stretches of road have trees worth pulling under, which restaurant doorways catch a cross-breeze, and how long he can sit still before his app flags him inactive. What he did not plan for this summer is his phone dying on him mid-shift.
"The heat is so bad now that the phone just hangs. I can not see orders and I can not accept them. The company should look into these things and provide us with facilities. Otherwise, working becomes very difficult,” Vikrant told BW Businessworld in Noida.
He earns around Rs 1,500 on a good 12-hour day. For braving the afternoon slot between 12 and 4 pm, he gets an extra Rs 10–20 per order. There is no shade waiting for him at the restaurant pickup points. He is not permitted inside. When the heat becomes unbearable, he finds a tree, leans his bike against it and rests on his own clock, at his own risk. He has started buying juice and electrolyte supplements out of pocket just to get through the shift.
“Meri ghar chal jaati hai [I manage my house] and I am satisfied. But when it gets too bad, I shift to working at a club,” he said. Notably, Vikrant is one of an estimated 1.2 crore platform workers across India, delivery riders, ride-hailing drivers and home-service workers who have no employer-mandated shade, no paid sick leave, and no income if they stop.
India recorded 536 heatwave days in 2024, the highest in 14 years, with heat indices breaching 50°C in northern and central cities and over one billion people across 23 states affected, according to a May 2025 report by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). This summer, the India Meteorological Department has forecast above-normal heatwave days between April and June 2026, with minimum temperatures also running higher, a phenomenon scientists call "hot nights." The relative mortality risk on days with hot nights can be 50 per cent higher than on other days.
A 2024 survey of 166 gig workers in Hyderabad found that over 93 per cent spent at least six hours outdoors daily, while 55.42 per cent worked more than eight hours in street-level conditions, placing them directly in the path of extreme heat exposure, as per HeatWatch and Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union (TGPWU).
"The whole of India has become like a brick kiln, and all these workers are the bricks being baked alive in it," Nirmal Gorana, National Coordinator of the Gig and Platform Service Workers Union (GIPSWU), told BW Businessworld. “The government is not able to see this in a sensitised way because nobody powerful is getting hurt.”
India's gig economy is rapidly expanding and is projected to grow to 2.35 crore by 2029–30. Accounting for over 2 per cent of the country's workforce, it spans low, medium, and high-skilled jobs, with significant growth in ecommerce, transport, and logistics. It is projected to contribute up to 2.5 per cent of India's gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030.
The Advisory Trap: Words Without Weight
The Ministry of Labour and Employment issued a nationwide directive on 28 April 2026, urging states to reschedule working hours, enhance rest areas and cooling facilities, and provide hydration for workers. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had earlier issued guidelines recommending that platforms suspend mandatory gig work between 11 am and 4 pm during heatwave alerts, offer shorter two-hour shifts with cooling breaks, and allow workers to opt out without penalties. The advisory also calls for at least two emergency leave days during summer, a reduction in service radius to 3 km during peak heat hours, and a waiver of incentives tied to login time.
However, none of it is enforceable.
"The government has said work will stop between 12 and 4 pm. But that applies to labourers, not gig workers, because gig workers are not even recognised as workers," Gorana told BW Businessworld. “And if they are going out and you have announced a restriction, why is there no action against the companies? If whoever wants to go can go, what is the point of the notification? You and I can also say that. That is not governance.”
Tanmay, 23, a college student who supplements his income as a part-time Blinkit delivery rider in Noida, knows the gap between advisory and reality. He has moved his working hours to the evening, from 6 pm to midnight, to escape the afternoon heat. So have many of his colleagues. The problem is that everyone has made the same calculation.
"More people are now working at night, so the number of orders I get has gone down," he told BW. The result is a weekly earnings shortfall of nearly Rs 1,000 compared to cooler months. He now earns between Rs 2,000 and Rs 2,500 a week. Even during heatwaves, workers are forced to stay out for hours. There may be an advisory and an app, but it is the worker who bears the brunt of the sun, told Gorana.
In a formal communication to the Delhi government, Gorana called for urgent relief measures, including access to shaded rest areas, drinking water and emergency medical support. He also welcomed the Delhi Budget 2026 proposal to create rest facilities at Atal Canteen locations, describing it as a “progressive step,” while urging immediate implementation.
He further recommended that such facilities be located near high-demand zones such as delivery hubs and warehouses to ensure usability. The letter also demanded mandatory suspension of platform operations between 12 pm and 3 pm during peak heat hours, along with directions to companies to provide heat-protective clothing free of cost. It additionally highlighted the need for gender-sensitive measures, including safe rest spaces, sanitation and emergency health support for women workers.
Gap Between Announcements And Reality
Some companies have responded with visible measures. Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal said in a LinkedIn post that more than 2,500 delivery partners across 14 cities will trial cooling vests this summer. The company stated that these vests are designed for temperatures above 40°C and use evaporative PVA-based cooling technology, providing relief for up to four hours. They are lightweight, anti-microbial and built to last two summers.
Amazon says it is expanding Project Ashray, a network of air-conditioned rest stops, to 100 centres serving over 1.5 lakh delivery workers every month. Flipkart has upgraded rest areas at fulfilment centres and introduced a "Doctor on Call" service. Amazon's delivery partners are also covered under a health insurance programme that includes OPD reimbursement of up to Rs 5,000 and hospitalisation coverage of up to Rs 1 lakh.
Responding to the amenities being provided, Vikrant said, “They are asking Rs 400 for that jacket. Right now, I do not feel the need to spend that much. These basic things should be provided to us without charge. We are giving to the company, the company should also give back.” A TGPWU survey showed that only 16.87 per cent of gig workers have access to shaded rest areas, while fewer than one in five have access to any cooling facility, forcing most to rely on informal coping strategies such as waiting under trees or inside vehicles.
Tanmay pointed to what he called the reality on the ground near the Blinkit dark store close to Somerville School in Noida. "Blinkit does provide one or two glucose sachets sometimes for the afternoon shift, but it is not regular. Some days I get it, some days I don't, because the dark store staff keep the sachets for themselves instead of giving them to us who actually need them."
Gig worker leader Gorana said that they have visited Kalka Ji, Nehru Place, Lajpat Nagar, and parts of South Delhi and Noida. Across these locations, not one delivery partner reported consistent access to glucose sachets, a functional cooling room, or any formal rest facility from their platform. BW could not verify these claims as well.
Gorana was pointed. “Tell me the name of one place where a proper resting room has been made. We visited everywhere. Work is going on in full swing at every outlet. And even if a restroom exists somewhere, how will a Zepto worker ride 2–4 kilometres in 45°C heat to reach it? His login goes inactive. His orders dry up. He earns nothing. Who is compensating him for that time?”
On the cooling vest, he added, “I have not seen a single worker wearing one. I go out every day. Not one.”
The Economics Of Survival In 45°C
The financial squeeze compounds with every degree the thermometer climbs. A randomised controlled trial conducted among 276 gig delivery workers in Delhi and Gurugram during the peak heat season of May–June 2025, found that during heatwave weeks, workers completed 9.2 fewer deliveries, worked 0.8 fewer days, and cut their daily hours by 1.2 hours compared to baseline.
Crucially, these declines did not fully reverse even after temperatures fell, pointing to persistent income damage. More broadly, informal workers can lose up to 40 per cent of their income during heatwaves, according to estimates cited by Policy Circle.
A part-time Swiggy delivery partner in Noida, who runs a full-time job at a call centre and takes rides on weekends and evenings, earns around Rs 700–800 on a full-day shift. He said Swiggy does offer a higher per-order payout during afternoon hours as compensation for heat exposure. Whether a rider can actually sit inside a restaurant while waiting, however, is left entirely to the establishment's goodwill. "Sometimes they let us sit inside in the AC and offer water. Sometimes they refuse completely. It is totally up to them," he said. He had not heard of the cooling vest programme.
The platform model itself creates structural disincentives against rest. Because services are auto-assigned, going inactive, even briefly, risks losing the order queue, dropping ratings, and, in documented cases, losing platform access entirely, according to Gorana. However, the Blinkit delivery partner mentioned to BW that it does not happen to them as they just simply have the option to put themselves on ‘Break’ in the application and these mentioned things will not affect them.
According to media reports, last month in Varanasi, around 150 gig workers went on strike demanding heat safety measures when temperatures soared to 43°C. The company blocked all 150 accounts. Around 125 were eventually reinstated. The signal to every other rider was unmistakable: rest at your own risk.
"Workers have gone back to their villages. Others have shifted to night shifts because the afternoon is not survivable," Gorana said. “Those who remain on the road during the day are doing it knowing they may collapse. The worker knows this will kill him if it goes on. But he is in a forced situation. That is what forced labour means.”
A 2024 survey by the Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers (IFAT) found that over half of gig workers reported symptoms of heat exhaustion or heatstroke, and more than 40 per cent lacked access to clean drinking water during work hours.
Heat Wave As Disaster: The Demand The Government Has Not Heeded
Worker unions have, for two consecutive years, demanded that heatwaves be brought under the Disaster Management Act, which would make protections legally binding. The government has not acted.
"We said this last year, we are saying it again this year. Forty-four degrees Celsius combined with 33 per cent humidity, that is a disaster by any scientific definition. People are having heart attacks and strokes that go unreported. They treat themselves at home. There is no record. And so the government does not feel the urgency," Gorana said in conversation with BW Businessworld.
The ILO has noted that heat stress sets in at temperatures above 35°C in high humidity, with heatstroke risk rising above 40°C. A WHO report from May 2024 warned that rising heat stress could cause productivity losses equivalent to 80 million full-time jobs globally by 2030, with India among the most vulnerable nations. Experts estimate India could lose the equivalent of 35 million full-time jobs by 2030 due to heat stress alone.
The IFAT, writing to the Ministry of Labour and Employment last week, demanded that the NDMA advisory be made enforceable under the Code on Social Security, 2020, which already recognises gig workers in law if not yet in practice. The federation pointed to South Korea, Singapore, France, Japan, the UAE, and California as jurisdictions that have already implemented binding heat protections for platform workers. "Heat protection is not a privilege," IFAT stated in its letter.
The contrast between Tanmay’s exit and Vikrant’s endurance captures the deeper structural gap in India’s gig economy, where choice is unevenly distributed and protection remains largely aspirational. Despite growing official recognition through platforms like eShram, the reality on the ground suggests that registration has yet to translate into meaningful safeguards. For millions of workers, survival continues to depend less on policy frameworks and more on daily resilience in extreme working conditions.
Disclaimer: Certain names in this report have been changed to protect the identity of individuals concerned. |
