India’s quick-commerce boom is hitting a critical inflexion point. After years of racing against the clock, leading instant-delivery platforms such as Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy are officially stepping away from the aggressive '10-minute delivery' promise. The move signals a deeper reset in how speed, technology, and human safety must coexist in the country’s rapidly evolving gig economy.
This is not a marketing tweak. It is a structural shift.
Why Fast 10-Minute Delivery Is Being Removed?
The decision followed a high-level meeting between the Centre and major platform aggregators, where Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya raised strong concerns about the physical risk and psychological stress faced by delivery partners.
At the heart of the issue lies a simple truth: Algorithms can be optimised endlessly, but human reflexes, roads, and safety limits cannot.
Delivery riders working under strict countdown timers often face high-speed riding in congested urban traffic, risky maneuvers to meet tight deadlines, and intense mental pressure caused by penalties, ratings, and incentive-linked speed targets, which is why official sources say the decision to drop the 10-minute branding is a voluntary but guided move focused on improving working conditions and reducing unsafe on-road behaviour.
Blinkit has reportedly already removed the '10-minute delivery' label from its app interface and branding materials. Industry insiders suggest Zepto and Swiggy Instamart are expected to follow in the coming days.
This change does not mean instant delivery is ending altogether. Instead, platforms are recalibrating toward more flexible, realistic delivery windows that balance efficiency with safety.
In short, the race is slowing down, by design. The instant delivery model has been under intense scrutiny for months.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha raised the issue in Parliament, calling the 10-minute mandate cruelty disguised as convenience. His remarks echoed growing public concern that ultra-fast delivery timelines incentivise dangerous riding practices.
Urban India’s appetite for speed has collided with a moral question: How fast is too fast when lives are on the line?
From a technology perspective, quick-commerce platforms rely on dark stores located within dense catchment zones, AI-powered demand forecasting systems, advanced route optimisation algorithms, and real-time rider tracking to ensure faster order fulfilment.
While these systems dramatically reduce delivery time, they also transfer execution pressure directly to riders. When delays occur, traffic, weather, or roadblocks, it is the human at the end of the chain who absorbs the risk.
This latest policy rethink acknowledges a long-ignored truth in platform economics: Last-mile delivery is not just a logistics problem; it is a human problem. The timing of this industry shift is no coincidence.
The Code on Social Security, 2020, which came into effect on November 21, 2025, legally defines gig workers and platform workers for the first time in India’s history and mandates social security coverage, accident insurance, health benefits, the creation of a National Social Security Board, and welfare schemes funded by aggregators and government contributions.
This legal framework places formal accountability on platforms, making unsafe delivery practices a compliance risk, not just a PR issue. Dropping the 10-minute promise aligns the industry with the new regulatory reality.
How This Change Affects Gig Workers?
For delivery partners, this shift could be transformative.
Potential benefits include:
- Reduced time-based pressure
- Safer riding behavior
- Lower accident risk
- Improved mental well-being
- Better alignment with social security protections
While earnings will still be linked to efficiency, the extreme urgency factor, the psychological burden of a ticking 10-minute clock, is expected to ease.
This is a rare moment where policy, public opinion, and platform strategy are moving in the same direction.
For customers, this change may mean deliveries arrive in 15–20 minutes instead of 10, but the trade-off is clear: fewer accidents, more ethical consumption, and sustainable growth of quick commerce, showing that in a mature digital economy, responsibility now matters just as much as speed.
This development marks the end of the speed-at-any-cost era, as the next phase of quick commerce shifts toward predictive stocking, smarter order batching, rider-first incentives, compliance-led platform design, and technology that adapts to humans rather than forcing humans to adapt to it, proving that India’s instant delivery sector is not slowing down but truly growing up.
The Centre’s intervention and the industry’s response send a powerful message: Progress is not just about doing things faster, but doing them right.
By stepping away from the 10-minute delivery promise, Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy are acknowledging that no app feature is worth a human life. In the long run, this recalibration may prove to be the smartest delivery decision the sector has ever made.
