Thousands of gig workers across India’s delivery platforms have filed Income Tax Returns this year, with platforms helping many file for the first time and claim eligible tax refunds. Zomato and Blinkit reported more than 2.10 lakh delivery partners filing ITRs for FY2025-26, while Swiggy reported more than 50,000 and Meesho’s logistics arm Valmo around 10,000. A large share were first-time filers. The initiatives also created formal income records that workers can use beyond the platforms where they earn.
What Is Changing?
Zomato and Blinkit said around 75% of delivery partners who filed through their initiative were first-time filers. Valmo reported nearly 70%, while Swiggy said more than one-third were filing for the first time. Zomato and Blinkit reported around ₹33.6 crore in refund claims, Swiggy ₹6.5 crore and Valmo around ₹2 crore. The claims relate to tax deducted from payouts where the worker’s final tax liability was lower.
Platforms are also reducing the administrative barriers to filing. Swiggy partnered with ClearTax, TaxBuddy and Dvara Money, while Valmo offered filing support through WhatsApp and its training system in seven languages.
Why Does It Matter?
For gig workers, the significance goes beyond filing a tax return. Gig work can generate income without the standard documentation associated with conventional employment. An ITR adds a formal record of income and tax compliance that exists beyond the platform where the work takes place. That can matter when workers need to demonstrate their earnings to lenders, landlords or other institutions.
The potential benefit is not limited to a single financial transaction. Over time, a documented earnings history could give workers a stronger basis for accessing services that rely on proof of income. An ITR does not guarantee access to credit, insurance or housing finance, but it gives financial institutions a record they can assess. For workers whose earnings are largely documented within individual platforms, this creates a record that can travel with them.
The scale of the workforce makes this more significant. India’s gig workforce reached around 1.2 crore in FY2024–25, according to the Economic Survey 2025–26. An earlier NITI Aayog report projected that the workforce would reach 2.35 crore by 2029–30.
Evidence also suggests that tax filing is becoming more common among gig workers. ClearTax said ITR filings by gig workers through its platform rose from 2.5 lakh in AY2023–24 to 5.5 lakh in AY2025–26 and around 11 lakh in AY2026–27. The growth suggests that tax filing is becoming a more regular part of platform workers’ financial lives, rather than something undertaken only when a worker needs to claim a refund.
But a formal income record is not the same as formal employment. A worker can have an ITR and documented income while continuing to work with variable earnings and without the protections associated with conventional employment.
The significance of the shift is therefore more specific: income earned through a platform is increasingly becoming income that can be documented and recognised beyond the platform itself.
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Source Note:
This article is based primarily on reporting by CNBC-TV18 and The Times of India on Income Tax Return filing initiatives for gig workers across Zomato, Blinkit, Swiggy and Meesho’s Valmo, including data on first-time filers, refund claims and platform-led filing support. Broader context on the size and projected growth of India’s gig workforce is drawn from the Economic Survey 2025–26 and NITI Aayog’s report on India’s gig and platform economy. Data on the rise in gig-worker tax filings comes from figures reported by ClearTax.