Published 14:03 IST, June 29th 2020
50 Zomato Kolkata executives quit, say problem is with Chinese investment not the company
A total of 50 delivery executives from Zomato in Kolkata have resigned amidst the ongoing India-China crisis. The staff burnt their Zomato T-shirts as a protest
A total of 50 delivery executives from Zomato have resigned in Kolkata amidst the ongoing India-China crisis. The delivery executives of the Gurugram-headquartered food delivery application have been protesting over the firm having investment from China since Saturday in Kolkata. The delivery executives in Kolkata, burnt their Zomato T-shirts, as a mark of protest against the Chinese investment. The protesters even claimed that they had quit the startup as it has investors from China.
"Have been associated with Zomato for a long time now, even during Coronavirus lockdown, took risk of my life and delivered food. But not anymore. I don't even use a bike but a cycle, this job is that important for me, but won't give my blood and sweat to the Chinese investor!", lashed out Suraj Pandey, who has been working with Zomato in Kolkata's Behala area.
Chinese investment in Zomato
In October 2018, Zomato raised $210 million from Alibaba's payment affiliate Ant Financial. Ant Financial received an ownership stake of over 10% of the company as part of the round, which valued Zomato at around $2 billion. Zomato had also raised an additional $150 million also from Ant Financial earlier in 2018. The delivery executives had an issue over a Chinese investment making massive returns from an Indian organization, at a time when Indian army lost 20 heroes in the ongoing border crisis with China. Pandey questioned Zomato's policy of keeping a Chinese investment at a time 20 Indian soldiers were martyred due to the conflict between India and China at Galwan.
The protestors are of the opinion that business and warfare which harms the nation cannot happen simultaneously, hence they urge customers not to order from or use the application but use other applications. The parent organization, Zomato, has not come up with any statement on the issue of continuing investment from a Chinese firm, or the protest by its own employees.
"We do not have any issue with Zomato, but the investment from Alibaba. If Zomato decides to kick out that Chinese investment and use some Indian investors, why won't we work with them? It is not an easy step for us to just leave the organization, but we are doing it." said Sunny, another delivery executive.
Updated 14:03 IST, June 29th 2020