Changes Made

On 20 March 2024, Zomato amended its rollout of “pure veg delivery” in the following ways-

1. The “pure veg” delivery fleet are no longer going to be wearing a green colour uniform. All the delivery partners will continue to wear their normal red uniform. This decision was taken after privacy concerns of consumers and safety issues of the zomato delivery partners were highlighted.
2. The “pure veg” option was renamed to be “veg only”.
3. Zomato also clarified that the dietary habits of delivery persons will not affect whether they can deliver veg-only meals, and consumers will not be able to request drivers of a specific dietary preference.

Things that have not been changed

While the delivery partners carrying vegetarian and non-vegetarian food will not be differentiated on the basis of their uniform, they will still belong to different fleets – and customers will be able to pick the “Veg only” fleet on the Zomato app. This still entrenches casteist practices and opens delivery personnel to hate, discrimination, loss of jobs and violence.