Hyderabad, Sep 15 (IANS): Delivery executives of food-delivery platform Swiggy in Hyderabad will go on indefinite strike from Tuesday, demanding a hike in their delivery charges.

They claimed that Swiggy has reduced their earning structure amid the Covid-19 pandemic and despite the rise in petrol prices.

The delivery executives said that Swiggy reduced the minimum earning from earlier Rs 35 to Rs 15 now. Even though Rs 35 is collected as delivery charges from customers, only Rs 15 is being paid to delivery executives.

They said the company is making them deliver more than one order per trip and for the second order, they are being paid only Rs 10.

They demanded that in view of the steep hike in petrol prices, they be paid Rs 10 per km for 0-4 km, Rs 15 for 4-8 km, and Rs 25 for above 8 km.

However, Swiggy has denied that delivery partners in Hyderabad only make Rs 15 per order.

"Most delivery partners in Hyderabad make over Rs 45 per order, with the highest performing partners making over Rs 75 per order. This Rs 15 is only one of the many components of the service fee. Naturally, no active delivery partners in Hyderabad have made only Rs 15 per order in the last four weeks," it said in a statement.

It clarified that the service fee per order is based on multiple factors to adequately compensate its partners including the distance travelled, waiting time, customer experience, shift completion and incentives.

"We'd also like to clarify that during instances where our partners make more than one delivery on the same trip, they are adequately compensated for the additional few kilometers or minutes they put in. In such cases, most delivery partners make an additional Rs 23 per batched order and incentives over and above this," it added.