Zomato says most of strike-hit Blinkit stores resume operations

We had to shut down some stores for a few days to ensure the safety of our employees at stores and the delivery partners, Zomato said.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Most of the stores of quick commerce player Blinkit have resumed operations after being affected by a strike of delivery partners, according to a regulatory filing by Zomato.

Blinkit, formerly known as Grofers India, was acquired last year by Zomato. Recently the operations of the platform were affected by the strike of delivery partners who were protesting against reduction in payouts per order.

“We had to shut down some stores for a few days to ensure the safety of our employees at stores and the delivery partners. Most of these stores have now resumed operations,” Zomato said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

The company further said, “Over the last few days we have made changes in the delivery partner payout structure with respect to the Blinkit business to address the needs of delivery partners, improve customer experience and reduce cancellation/order rejection, frauds by few delivery partners in the system. Such changes are done from time to time, as needed.”

It, however, did not mention how much the payouts to the delivery partners have been reduced, although according to reports it has come down to ₹15 per order with a distance-based fee component, down from a peak of ₹50 per order last year which was further reduced to ₹25.

On the financial impact of the situation at Blinkit, Zomato said, “These disruptions and changes have no material impact on the operations/financial performance of the company [meaningfully less than 1% revenue impact].”