A video of a young man sprinting down the street with a white Swiggy bag went viral. Popular Indian food aggregator Swiggy has confirmed that the individual in the video is not one of its delivery personnel. The man was seen sprinting down a Mumbai city street while toting a bag bearing Swiggy’s logo in the footage.
Various reactions were elicited, ranging from praise for the man’s dedication to his work to condemnation of Swiggy.
Swiggy, though, claimed that the rider was a kid who had “stolen” a delivery bag.
After the video went viral, the corporation organized a “horse-hunt” and offered a prize to find the man. In a light-hearted announcement on Sunday, it said that “both man and animal have been recognized.”
Sushant, 17, was described by Swiggy as “a regular youngster who borrows items and forgets to return them” rather than an employee.
It said, “In this instance, what he took was the Swiggy delivery bag.
Sushant was referred to by his employer as a “horse couturier,” a person who dresses horses for wedding processions, a widespread practice in many regions of India. It said that an embroidered drape and a few animal accessories were inside the borrowed bag.
Many social media users had been debating the identity of the unidentified man for days prior to Swiggy’s admission. Given that Mumbai is in the midst of a severe monsoon season and that the city was recently battered by torrential rains, several urged for the man to be given compensation for his efforts.
The video also reignited a discussion on the working conditions of delivery riders, who frequently drive at breakneck speed while facing a ticking clock, traffic jams, and picky clients to deliver food in a matter of minutes. Many of them are extremely underpaid and overworked and choose the gig economy out of desperation.
Swiggy had advertised a reward for the first person “who can share intel about our inadvertent brand ambassador,” so this may have led company to start looking for the rider.
Additionally, the business seemed to be capitalizing on the unexpectedly high popularity of the video. A guy riding a horse has replaced the rider’s emblem on Swiggy’s app, according to several social media users who uploaded images of the change.
