Zomato fires 5,000 delivery workers monthly over fraud, CEO says

Zomato terminates about 5,000 delivery workers each month, according to Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO of Eternal, who spoke on a recent podcast.

Goyal said 150,000 to 200,000 gig workers also leave the company voluntarily each month, with a similar number joining during the same period.

He cited the high attrition to the temporary nature of gig work, noting that many workers take up the job for short-term financial needs.

Goyal said many terminations are related to repeated fraud, such as delivery partners falsely marking food as delivered or failing to return change to customers.

🔗 Source: The Economic Times

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Zomato’s exits suggest steep churn vs its 2024 partner base

Each month, 150,000 to 200,000 partners quit, with about 5,000 firings 1. That pace implies 1.9 to 2.5 million exit events a year, versus 15 lakh partners in 2024 where 1 lakh equals 100,000 1. Some people leave and return within the year.
The typical partner worked 46 days in 2024, down from 51 in 2023, which fits part-time or seasonal stints 1.
Insurance payouts topped ₹53 crore in Calendar Year 2024 (CY24), up from ₹43.6 crore in CY23, where one crore equals 10 million 1. In 2024, 55% of claims covered non-accident medical care 1. The filing does not tie the rise to accident rates or onboarding mix.

Food apps need fraud tools processors lack

Indian quick-commerce, which means rapid delivery of groceries and essentials in 10 to 30 minutes, faces two-way fraud. Couriers may mark orders complete without delivery, or customers may send edited images for refunds. This drives demand for tools that verify proof of delivery, flag tampered photos, and match timestamps with GPS data.
Hyperpure, Zomato’s B2B (business-to-business) supplies arm, runs as infrastructure. Revenue reached ₹3,172 crore in Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) 2. Zomato funds systems that fix operations. If fraud software cut issues like 5,000 monthly firings, the company would likely adopt them.
B2B SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) founders can read the “karma score” system as an opening. Build reputation software that spans gig platforms. These products help operators spot risky workers or customers before onboarding.