Delivery platforms turn tax filing into a financial-inclusion tool for gig workers
Eternal, Swiggy, Zepto and Meesho Valmo are embedding subsidised ITR filing in partner apps, helping delivery workers claim TDS refunds while creating formal income records that can support access to credit and financial services.
What happened
Eternal (Zomato and Blinkit) · Indian delivery and quick-commerce platforms are embedding subsidised tax-return filing in partner apps, helping workers reclaim
Key facts
- Eternal facilitated ITR filing for 2.1 lakh delivery partners in FY2025-26
- 75% of Eternal filers were first-time filers
- Eternal workers received Rs 33.6 crore in refunds, averaging about Rs 1,600 per filer
- Swiggy enabled more than 50,000 filings and Rs 6.5 crore in refund claims
- Zepto registered 30,895 filings in 2026 with claims exceeding Rs 4.9 crore
- Meesho Valmo saw about 10,000 workers initiate filings and claim nearly Rs 2 crore
- ClearTax filings rose from 2.5 lakh in AY2023-24 to approximately 11 lakh in AY2026-27
Why this matters
Delivery platforms should pursue partnerships or acquisitions in tax-tech, earned-wage access and credit underwriting to monetize formalized worker income data.
What to watch
- Growth in first-time ITR filers and total TDS refunds among delivery partners.
- Launches of platform-linked loans, vehicle finance, insurance or credit-score products.
- Approval rates, delinquency rates and loan-ticket sizes for workers with newly filed ITRs.
- Government changes to TDS thresholds, gig-worker reporting rules, tax-return simplification or social-security implementation.
- Evidence that workers use ITRs to access housing rentals, education loans, consumer credit or welfare programmes.
- Worker complaints regarding tax liabilities, refund delays, data sharing or loss of benefit eligibility.
- Competitive adoption by Uber, Ola, Rapido, Amazon, Flipkart and other large gig-work platforms.
- Partner with banks, NBFCs and credit bureaus to create consent-based underwriting products using ITR and verified platform-income data.
- Offer tax-refund advances or no-cost short-term credit against expected TDS refunds, subject to compliance and fraud controls.
- Bundle ITR filing with accident, health and vehicle insurance, pension enrolment and savings products inside delivery-partner apps.
- Use financial-wellness benefits as a retention lever, targeting high-frequency and long-tenure delivery partners.
- Standardise earnings statements, TDS records and digital consent flows across platforms to make worker income portable between jobs and lenders.
- Prepare for higher regulator attention on gig-worker social security, tax reporting and whether financial products are being mis-sold through partner apps.