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company

Swiggy

Indian food delivery company. Backed by Prosus and SoftBank. Went public in 2024. Competitor to Zomato. Has faced criticism over pre-IPO layoffs and gig worker conditions.

Track Record

negligent

Telangana's food safety authority (TG SAFE) inspected 16 quick-commerce dark stores across Hyderabad on September 30, 2026, and suspended the FSSAI licences of two Swiggy Instamart (Kwickbox Retail) outlets - at Pet Basheerabad and Saidabad - after finding cockroach infestation, fungal/mould growth, melted dairy products, expired food, and unhygienic, poorly-recorded storage. Three more Swiggy Instamart stores in the same sweep received improvement notices and three received show-cause notices for comparable violations. The same inspection drive also suspended licences at Flipkart and Zepto dark stores.

On August 15, 2026, Bengaluru delivery workers organized by the Karnataka App-based Workers Union struck against Swiggy (and Zomato) in solidarity with a restaurant boycott threat led by the Bengaluru Hotel and Restaurant Association, which said over 21,000 restaurants could stop accepting orders. Workers and restaurants demanded an end to commissions as high as 30%, transparent payout and deduction systems, and dedicated human support to resolve disputes, calling platform economics exploitative of workers, restaurants, and customers alike.

Swiggy, alongside Zomato and Zepto, moved the Karnataka High Court in June 2026 to challenge the constitutional validity of the state's gig workers welfare law, which would require aggregator platforms to contribute to a worker welfare fund and extend social-security protections. The legal challenge came amid broader industry resistance to gig-worker protections, including a separate central rule requiring 90 days of platform work before workers qualify for social security benefits.

reactive

In January 2024, Swiggy cut about 400 jobs (7% of workforce) ahead of its planned IPO, following 400 layoffs in early 2023. Sources said there was 'immense pressure' from investors Prosus and SoftBank to show profitability before filing IPO prospectus. The layoffs affected tech and operations teams. Investment bankers held that Swiggy needed to beat rival Zomato on many metrics for good valuation.