00:01From morning to night, Raj is on the road in a race against time.
00:06In India's quick commerce economy, speed is everything.
00:10Raj is not his real name. He asked us not to reveal his identity.
00:15He is 24, married with two kids, one of them in need of surgery.
00:21One of thousands of delivery riders across India, and like many we spoke to, not happy with what and how
00:29he earns.
00:31We don't get more than 30, 35 rupees, roughly 38 euro cents for every order.
00:36On top of that, if a customer misbehaves, we're told never to say anything to them.
00:40If they make a false complaint about not getting an order, the amount is deducted from our earnings.
00:46Quick commerce is now a 7.1 billion dollar industry in India, projected to grow 40% annually until 2030.
00:56It runs on riders like Raj, and on a promise that once defined it not long back.
01:02Everything delivered in 10 minutes.
01:05Concerned about safety, many delivery riders went on strike on New Year's Eve.
01:10The government then asked the quick commerce companies to stop advertising the 10-minute delivery guarantee.
01:16Since then, the promise has largely disappeared from the marketing and packaging material, but not entirely.
01:23This delivery bag from an order placed today, that is on 14th March 2026, still mentions everything in 10 minutes.
01:32The pressure is still there. It's now built into incentives that riders say are nearly impossible to hit.
01:39The riders don't go fast because they are happy.
01:42They get incentives for the orders.
01:44They go fast because the more orders, the more they earn.
01:48The company doesn't give us a monthly salary.
01:52Many pay a price for it. Raj has already had two accidents on the job.
01:59Sanjay, not his real name, has signed up with all three major quick commerce platforms.
02:05Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto.
02:09I ride for 17-18 hours a day delivering orders to earn incentives.
02:13I stop just for 10 minutes to eat.
02:17On the other side of this story, consumer behavior has shifted, perhaps permanently.
02:24Quick commerce platforms now process over 10 million orders a day in India, growing faster than any other retail channel.
02:32Convenience has become a habit.
02:35Earlier, we had to plan to go to get our groceries.
02:38But now with quick commerce, things have become very, very convenient.
02:42You just sit at home, you order.
02:44Yes, I do land up ordering unnecessary things and spending much more than required.
02:51The consumer is happy.
02:52The industry is booming.
02:54But, economist Santosh Mehrotra says the foundations are shakier than they look.
03:00There's no death and disability insurance.
03:02There's no pension.
03:04And you can be fired tomorrow.
03:06These are jobs literally at the bottom of the services pyramid.
03:11There's going to be very rapid burnout and there will be a huge turnover.
03:17Every order placed adds to an industry that is only getting bigger.
03:22For the consumers it has won over, there is no going back.
03:26For riders like Raj, the only question is whether a booming industry will ever make room for the people holding
03:34it up.
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