Hyderabad: The fast‑delivery culture that once promised 10‑minute service is collapsing under real‑world constraints, as food delivery delays are being widely reported in Hyderabad. Even short‑distance orders of 2–3 km are taking 55 minutes or more, with fewer delivery partners being assigned and restaurants struggling to keep kitchens running.
While other gig services, including home and cleaning help, also faced worker shortages in April, those platforms appear to be coping slightly better. For food and grocery delivery, however, the situation has intensified due to multiple factors: disruptions linked to the ongoing war affecting LPG supply, long queues at petrol pumps, extreme heat, election season activity, and more.
Customers across the city say delays are no longer occasional. “Delivery delays have become very noticeable, even for short distances. From my experience, restaurants just 2–3 km away are showing delivery times of 50–60 minutes at minimum, which is much higher than usual. Several restaurants I used to order from have also stopped accepting orders altogether. It feels like a supply‑demand mismatch where demand has gone up but delivery capacity hasn’t kept up,” said Priyashmita Choudhury from Kondapur.
Others report similar patterns. A resident who ordered biryani around 1 pm said it arrived only by 3 pm from a distance of about 6 km. “Even for grocery deliveries, it shows the area is unserviceable or that delivery partners are busy at checkout. It’s worse during evenings and weekends,” said Ramya V from Narsingi.
According to restaurant owners, the problem begins in the kitchen. “We are in dire need of gas; there is an extreme shortage for us. We are cooking on induction and woodfire. We have shut down Swiggy and Zomato because we cannot manage,” said C.H. Venugopal, secretary of the Telangana State Hotels Association. He said some outlets are paying up to Rs 8,000 for cylinders, while supply remains uncertain. “We are struggling to get gas cylinders. After a week, we will be without gas,” he added.
Fuel queues are adding another layer of delay. “There are big queues going up to one and one‑and‑a‑half kilometres at petrol pumps. Most of the delivery partners are also stuck there. How will they deliver?” Venugopal asked.
Worker groups say multiple factors are converging. “There are operational shortages when it comes to these delivery apps, fuel shortage being the primary reason. Loading and unloading in warehouses is taking time, many are out of stock, and some warehouses have shut down,” said Shaik Salauddin, founder‑president of the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union (TGPWU) and national general secretary of the Indian Federation of App‑Based Transport Workers. He said the heatwave is also reducing the number of riders on the road. “There is no safety provision or support from the companies, so fewer delivery partners are on the road in the afternoon and delivery time has gone up,” he said.
A letter sent by the federation to the Union Labour Ministry has asked for paid cooling breaks, access to drinking water, and emergency support for workers during heat alerts. The absence of such measures, worker groups say, is forcing many to log off during peak hours.
Further, election activity in several states has seen workers return to their hometowns. Customers are seeing the effects directly on their apps. Another shift is in how platforms define delivery time. Services that earlier promised express delivery within 20–30 minutes now show longer timelines. “It is frustrating to have delayed orders when there is so much dependency on food orders these days. Due to longer queues at fuel stations and limited delivery partners, even short deliveries take longer than usual,” said Sameer from Uppal.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
