50 Blinkit dark stores shut in Delhi-NCR amid protests by delivery workers over wages

Around 50 stores of food delivery company Zomato's grocery unit Blinkit (formerly Grofers) are shut in Delhi-NCR as delivery workers have stopped work as part of their demand for better wages, said a report on Friday.

Zomato, in an email, said it had introduced a new structure for riders that compensates them based on their effort and was engaging with them to reopen the shut stores, reported Reuters.

To take advantage of the trend for "quick commerce" that delivers goods within minutes to those in urgent need of supplies or just impulse shopping, Zomato last year bought Blinkit for $550 million.

Blinkit has around 400 stores in India, of which 50 were shut, mostly in and around New Delhi, on Friday, Reuters reported citing a source.

"Blinkit management must implement old payment immediately. Reduction from Rs 25 per delivery to Rs 10-15 is cheating with the employees," tweeted BJP leader Kapil Mishra.

Videos on social media showed hundreds of Blinkit bike riders protesting and raising slogans against the introduction of a payment structure they say will reduce their per-order earnings. The Blinkit app on Friday showed several of its stores were "temporarily unavailable" in New Delhi.

"We are concerned because of this. No deliveries are happening," Blinkit rider Ajay Kumar said.

At one Blinkit store in the Noida region near New Delhi, a security staff officer told Reuters no delivery riders had picked up orders since April 11 and the store was shut.

Blinkit competes with other big delivery firms, including top retailer Reliance-backed Dunzo, Tata's BigBasket and SoftBank-backed Swiggy.

Zomato's other food delivery services continued normally.

Meanwhile, Blinkit tweeted to several complaints about lack of delivery, "Hi there, please accept our sincere apologies. Your Blinkit store is undergoing necessary maintenance at the moment. Our teams are working on it, and we’ll be back very soon to serve you again."

As the impasse between riders and Blinkit continues, the stores are likely to be "temporarily unavailable" for the platform's customers.

With inputs from Reuters