For three days, Gondi Krishna kept his phone off, updating the delivery app that dictated the rhythm of his day.
Not long ago, the 29-year-old’s phone was constantly ringing with grocery delivery orders, determining when to wake up, where to ride his bike, and how much he could earn by nightfall. Now the screen stays silent.
Krishna said that on February 19, his account on the platform was banned and blacklisted. Without access to the app, it cannot work. He said the reason was not poor performance or non-delivery of orders, but rather his decision to stand in solidarity with another delivery partner whose account was removed.
Across Bengaluru, independent workers like Krishna say their livelihoods remain precarious despite the growing importance of app-based delivery services. Many describe shrinking wages, opaque algorithms and customer support systems that often fail to resolve their complaints.
“Before, we were getting paid $10 to 15 per km, but now they only pay us $“6 years,” said Nitish Kumar, 26, a delivery associate linked to an app.
He said the decline in kilometer income had lengthened the working day for many riders. “Previously, if I worked for ten hours, I could easily achieve the balance of my income, but now even with 15 hours it is difficult to achieve this goal,” he said.
For Ajay Kumar, 36, the payment system often seems inconsistent. “The per kilometer fees are low. Sometimes we get close to that $18 for 2 km, but for 4 km instead of double, we get just that $25,” he said.
Trying to resolve such issues through customer support can take hours, workers say. “I wasted two hours of my work time today trying to complain that someone else took my order,” Ajay Kumar said. “They only provide generated responses.”
Such complaints are common even though the Karnataka Gig Workers Act, passed in 2025, guarantees platform workers the right to file grievances against aggregator companies and the state board overseeing the sector.
But many riders said the support they receive rarely goes beyond automated responses. “Customer service does not support us at all,” said Sheikh Imran, 32, another delivery partner with the same app mentioned above. “When there is a problem on the customer or restaurant end, we get caught in the middle and have to take the loss,” he added.
Imran, who balances delivery work with part-time work at a private sector bank, said delays in resolving issues often affect his earnings. “I struggled last January. One day I called customer service three times and each time I was redirected to a different agent who gave me responses that were not helpful at all,” he said.
The algorithms that determine which rider receives an order are another source of frustration. “I don’t get many orders, but those next to me will get a lot,” said Arvind Yadav, 28. “I don’t know why.”
Ajay Kumar said he sometimes waits for long periods without appointments. “Sometimes I don’t receive any orders even after waiting for 30 minutes, but others do. This also happened today after I filed a complaint with customer service,” he said.
The Karnataka Gig Workers Act requires companies to disclose how their algorithms affect workers, but many delivery partners said they still don’t understand how orders are distributed.
HT has reached out to the food delivery app through multiple channels for a response. The company had not responded at the time of publication.
For Krishna and two of his fellow workers — Manjali Ramu, 29, and Viresh, 32 — the conflict with their platform went beyond pay allocation or demand.
All three say they have lost their jobs completely.
Krishna said the conflict started when Ramu’s account was banned, prompting several delivery partners to go on strike. According to Krishna, Ramu had a reputation among the riders for speaking up when workers felt they were being treated unfairly.
“For example, when the company started taking money from… $15-20 workers were being paid for each delivery, forcing them to surrender $“If the score is 300-500, Ramu will question the administration,” Krishna said.
Krishna said that he and Veresh supported Ramu during the protest and believe that led to the removal of their accounts. “Some of us went on strike because Ramu’s ID card was wrongly blocked,” he said. “Ramo will always support those who have been wronged by the administration and thus he was deliberately targeted.”
After the strike, Krishna said the company filed a complaint with the police station accusing Ramu of preventing others from working and causing losses.
“After we went on strike, the management immediately went to the police station and complained to Ramo, saying that he was preventing everyone from working and that they had suffered losses because of the strike,” he said. “This is a completely false narrative.”
Krishna said the platform’s policies do not prevent workers from organizing a strike. Losing his job had immediate consequences for his family. His mother is sick and depends on him for medical expenses. “What else can I do now?” he asked.
“After one time I supported my colleague, they removed me without thinking,” he said. The three workers contacted Muhammad Inayat Ali, president of the Karnataka App-Based Drivers Federation, for help.
Ali said that the union received multiple complaints from delivery partners about low wages and the companies’ lack of response. “We have received complaints from workers. Their profits have decreased significantly after the strike,” he said.
According to Ali, workers who file complaints are sometimes asked to look for other jobs. “Nothing happens when they complain to their management. They just tell them to go look for another job,” he said.
Ali also said some drivers have been told they may be allowed to return if they avoid further protests. “They are not following the Karnataka Labor Act,” he said. “Moreover, drivers are not paid well for their services.”
He added that the problems are not limited to delivery platforms. He said: “One of the companies specializing in home salon services has the highest level of exploitation towards its workers.” “Anyone who raises their voice or questions the company is targeted and removed. This is the issue.”
For Krishna, uncertainty is immediate and personal. Every time he checks his phone, he hopes the notification restoring his account — and his income — will finally appear.
So far, that hasn’t happened.
