Gig workers pick up orders outside a grocery store amid strike call by unions on New Year’s Eve, in Marine Lines, Mumbai on December 31, 2025
| Photo Credit: PTI
Food delivery aggregators Swiggy, Zomato and magicpin on Thursday (January 1, 2026) said they recorded a massive surge in orders on New Year’s Eve, even as a section of gig workers went on strike demanding better payouts and improved working conditions, with the agitation having a negligible impact on their operations.
The Gig & Platform Service Workers Union (GIPSWU) said over 1 lakh workers from 22 cities joined the strike, including 14,000 of its members from major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and others.
However, according to estimates, there are over 12.7 million gig workers in India, with government think tank NITI Aayog saying the gig workforce is expected to rise to 23.5 million by 2029-30. India’s third-largest food delivery platform Magicpin said lakhs of orders poured in every hour across metros on New Year’s Eve.
In a post on X, Eternal Founder Deepinder Goyal said, “Zomato and Blinkit delivered at a record pace yesterday, unaffected by calls for strikes that many of us heard over the past few days. Support from local law enforcement helped keep the small number of miscreants in check, enabling over 4.5 lakh delivery partners across both platforms to deliver more than 75 lakh orders (all-time high) to over 63 lakh customers during the day.”
Anshoo Sharma, Founder and CEO of Magicpin, said that the company saw “no impact” of the strike called by gig workers’ unions.
According to trends shared by Swiggy and magicpin, Indians feasted on biryani, pizzas, butter chicken and desi desserts like gajar ka halwa on the New Year’s Eve.
Eternal founder Mr. Goyal further expressed gratitude to local authorities and its teams on the ground for clear enforcement and swift coordination.
He also thanked “delivery partners who showed up despite intimidation, stood their ground, and chose honest work and progress”.
Mr. Goyal urged people not to get swept up by “narratives pushed by vested interests”, arguing that if a system were fundamentally unfair, it would not consistently attract and retain so many people who choose to work within it.
“The gig economy is one of India’s largest organised job creation engines, and its real impact will compound over time, when delivery partners’ children, supported by stable incomes and education, enter the workforce and help transform our country at scale,” he stated in the post.
Magicpin founder Sharma said New Year’s Eve once again showed how food delivery has become central to how Indians celebrate.
Pizza emerged as the early favourite for Magicpin users placing their orders on New Year’s Eve, even as desserts like gajar ka halwa and ice cream saw a three-fold increase in orders compared to last year. Dinner orders peaked around 9:30 p.m., with butter chicken becoming the most-ordered main course on the platform in Delhi-NCR, followed by biryani and dal makhni.
On Swiggy, biryani clocked a staggering 2.19 lakh orders before the clock even struck 7:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. “Meanwhile, the age-old battle between pizzas and burgers continued. By 8:30 p.m., over 2.18 lakh pizzas had been dispatched, while burgers put up a fight with over 2.16 lakh orders, proving that India’s palate is as diverse as its celebrations,” Swiggy said.
Besides, Swiggy stated that dining out was a preferred choice for many this New Year’s Eve, with Bengaluru and Hyderabad leading the bookings on Swiggy Dineout. Ahmedabad led the growth charge with a staggering 1.6 times increase in bookings, followed closely by Lucknow (1.3 times) and Jaipur (1.2 times).
Published – January 01, 2026 05:39 pm IST
