Deepinder Goyal-led Zomato fires 600 employees; some say company gave no warning

Deepinder Goyal-led Zomato has reportedly fired 600 customer support associates just a year after hiring them, Moneycontrol reported.

The layoffs come as the company grapples with slowing growth in its core food delivery business and increasing losses at Blinkit, its quick-commerce subsidiary.

Zomato is reportedly accelerating its shift toward automation, using AI to handle a growing share of customer service operations, in a bid to cut costs and improve efficiency.

Last year, the company hired around 1,500 employees under its Zomato Associate Accelerator Program (ZAAP), which was designed to offer entry-level roles in customer support with the potential for advancement into positions across sales, operations, program management, support, supply chain, and category management within a year.

However, the majority of these workers, who were on contract, were not offered renewals at the end of their one-year tenure, the report said.

Affected employees were allegedly dismissed without prior notice and given one month’s salary as severance. Zomato cited performance-related issues—including low punctuality—as reasons for termination, according to the report.

No warning before termination, affected employees claim

In a series of posts shared on Reddit over the past week, several individuals claiming to be former Zomato employees have voiced frustration over what they described as abrupt and unreasoned terminations.

In a recent post on Reddit, a identifying himself as a former customer support associate alleged he was dismissed without prior warning.

“Today, I was fired from Zomato for what I can only describe as a ridiculous and unfair reason: being late by an average of just 28 minutes over the past three months,” the user wrote.

The employee claimed to have consistently met performance metrics and maintained a “strong presence on the floor.” Despite that, he said, there was no feedback, no warning, and no opportunity to improve before he was let go.

“Zomato showed zero willingness to listen or give even a single chance for improvement,” he added. “They didn’t care about the effort we put in, the results we delivered, or the dedication we showed. Just like that, they wiped out hundreds of jobs without a second thought.”

Another laid-off employee alleged that more than 500 employees were dismissed without notice and described the experience as dehumanizing.

“Zomato promised us career growth—promotions, salary hikes, stability. We worked longer hours, pushed harder, believed in the company. Then, out of nowhere, they fired 500+ of us. No warning. No accountability. Just a cold, ‘We never promised anything,’” the post read.

“This isn’t just about Zomato. It’s a corporate playbook. Hype up employees with big dreams, extract maximum effort, then replace them like disposable parts. A new batch will come in, fed the same lies, and the cycle continues.”

"Who’s going to warn them? Who’s going to stop this? These companies know labor laws are weak. They know they can get away with it. And they will—unless we demand change. If companies can fire 500+ people overnight with zero consequences, what’s stopping yours from doing the same?" the user added.

Zomato Lied to Us. Fired 500+ Overnight. Who’s Next?
byu/be_vocal_ indelhi

What is Nuggest?

The development comes more than a month after the Gurugram-based company introduced Nugget, an AI-driven, no-code customer support platform designed to help businesses automate customer service without the need for complex technical expertise.

🚀 Introducing Nugget—an AI-native, no-code customer support platform.

Nugget helps businesses scale support effortlessly—highly customizable, low-cost, no dev team needed. No rigid workflows, just seamless automation.

✅ Resolves up to 80% of queries autonomously
✅ Learns &… pic.twitter.com/pnVrUEhmcd

— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) February 17, 2025