Guddu, a delivery person with quick-commerce platform Blinkit, reveals a sweaty face as he takes off his helmet to deliver an order in Noida. It’s 12.30 pm, and the sun is already too hot to handle. Guddu has six more deliveries lined up, for which he will be on the road for at least another two hours.
Delivery workers like Guddu zipping down city roads in a country that is now addicted to ten-minute delivery, ordering anything from food, groceries and medicines, at any time of the day, are a common sight. But with temperatures soaring, a day in the life of a gig worker is a toss between livelihood and surviving the sun.
“I am on the roads for 12 hours a day. It’s very hot during the day, especially with a helmet on. But it’s my job. A lightweight T-shirt, jacket and occasional offers of water from customers offer partial relief,” he says, when asked how he copes in the heat.
On their part, e-commerce and logistics companies are offering some relief in terms of extra money for peak afternoon hours, shelters, protective clothing, etc, but workers share that these measures are not uniformly accessible or too meagre to make a difference. Like only about Rs 20 as extra money per order during afternoon hours.
What did delivery drivers tell FE?
Pawan Kumar, a Noida-based delivery rider with Swiggy Instamart, says he starts early around 7 am to beat the heat and tries to get as many orders as possible while it is still cooler. “If I manage to earn substantially in the morning, I can afford to rest in the afternoon,” he says, adding that he gets extra Rs 16 to Rs 20 on each delivery for afternoon hours. “They’ve given us cooling vests as well as jackets if it rains.”
Some like Vishal Chauhan (22), a delivery partner with Blinkit, is choosing to avoid the worst of the day altogether. He says he has shifted to a 5 pm-12 am shift. “I am not aware if anyone is getting anything beyond a little more money for afternoon hours,” he says. Riding around 100 km daily, he says he earns about Rs 20,000 in a good month.
A delivery partner with Amazon India’s quick commerce service Amazon Now, adds that incentives are not universal. “Karna toh padega, we can’t stop working,” he says sharing that he has not got any kind of relief for working during peak sun hours.
Companies, however, say they are strengthening safeguards. Swiggy has introduced passive cooling vests that reduce skin temperature by 6-7 degrees Celsius for up to four hours in high heat.
Eternal Group, which operates Zomato and Blinkit, has expanded insurance cover, emergency support and heat advisories. Delivery partners are covered for outpatient care, hospitalisation and accident insurance, with SOS and ambulance support built into apps. Blinkit stores have added cooling and hydration infrastructure, while Zomato says it provides access to more than 5,000 rest points offering shade, water and washrooms.
At Amazon India, the company says it has committed over Rs 4,800 crore since early 2025 to strengthen operations and worker welfare. Under Project Ashray, more than 150,000 delivery workers have access to air-conditioned rest stops across 100 locations. “For delivery partners, our approach focuses on continued on-ground support across our sites and on the road. This includes delivery app-initiated break reminders, reduction in number of packages where required, sensitisation on heat mitigation, emergency helpline access, and no-cost ambulance support,” says an Amazon spokesperson.
In the logistics sector, Blue Dart says it has implemented structured heat-safety measures. “We have strengthened on-ground support with access to drinking water, energy drinks, buttermilk and glucose across service centres,” says Beena Mathen Jacob, chief human resource officer at the company.
India now has an estimated 12-15 million gig workers, with nearly four in ten earning less than Rs15,000 a month, as per the Economic Survey 2025-26.
At the same time, extreme heat is intensifying, with 69 of the world’s 100 hottest cities currently in India. A 2024 Lancet report estimates that extreme heat led to the loss of 181 billion labour hours in India in 2023, equivalent to about Rs 13 lakh crore in income losses. Separate research shows that each additional month with average temperatures above 27.8 degrees Celsius increases physical inactivity, particularly in lower-income countries, highlighting a direct link between rising heat and declining productivity.
Policy responses also remain uneven. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has directed that workers be given breaks between 1 pm and 4 pm during peak heat, while Maharashtra has introduced similar restrictions.
For gig workers, however, the choice remains immediate — take whatever incentive they get and stay on the road, or log off and lose income.