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Early Diwali for delivery workers; RBI shutters Simpl

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Happy Friday! Rapid delivery platforms are attracting gig workers with new incentives during festive season. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch. Also in the letter:■ Electronics cos brace for Trump impact■ MeitY’s push for GST portal■ Peak XV’s newest cohortQuick commerce showering gig workers with festive incentives to make them stay Quick commerce platforms are rolling out fresh incentives for delivery workers to gear up for the festive season, anticipating a surge in orders for groceries and daily essentials.Why now: With rider attrition hovering between 25-35% annually, platforms are offering retention-linked bonuses to reduce churn. “Gig workers are not attached to a single platform,” Balasubramanian A, senior vice president, Teamlease, told us. He added that to boost stickiness, platforms are doling out weekly and monthly incentives through the festive stretch.Demand uptick:Swiggy Instamart has launched a one-week Navratri offer, guaranteeing at least 20% extra earnings to delivery partners in select regions.Zepto had earlier offered an extra Rs 10 per order on high-demand days, such as Ganesh Chaturthi and the India-Pakistan match, and is now preparing its Navratri scheme.Eternal’s Blinkit is also working on festive offers, per dark store executives. The bigger picture: Analysts expect quick commerce to account for roughly 12% of total online festive sales this year, with platforms banking on rider retention to meet delivery timelines.Read ETtech’s full coverage of the festive season:Shoppers splurge as GST cuts light up Chennai’s retail hubEcommerce platforms are set for bumper salesCarts to fill up fast & how! Ecomm platforms are set for bumper salesEcomm orders shoot up as annual sale events openClash of the carts: Qcomm & ecomm in race to deliver this festive seasonAnalysts expect festive online sales to grow 30% after GST reliefGST 2.0: Ecomm sellers, brands face working capital strainFestive fireworks ahead for ecommerce firms with season sales to rise 27%RBI asks pay-later firm Simpl to stop operations The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed fintech startup Simpl to shut down operations, citing breaches of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.Driving the news: In one of the strongest regulatory moves against a fintech startup in recent times, the RBI sent a letter dated September 25 to all payment aggregators, stating that Simpl must immediately cease all payment and settlement activities.Quote, unquote: “It was found through investigations that Simpl is operating a payment system involving payment, clearing, and settlement functions without a Certificate of Authorisation. This constitutes a violation of the provisions of the PSS Act, 2007,” the central bank said.Also Read: Paytm launches credit line on UPI with Suryoday Small Finance BankLarger impact: The RBI has ramped up scrutiny of buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platforms that blur the lines between credit and convenience, thereby bypassing formal lending rules. Simpl, which positioned itself as a ‘khata’ or bookkeeping app, sought to stay outside the regulatory net by avoiding the credit tag. That distinction didn’t hold.With this action, the RBI has relayed a firm stance that payment services must operate with proper authorisations under existing regulations.Also Read: Buy-now-pay-later offerings wane as fintechs pivot to EMI loans, consumer creditBlended supply chains can shield Indian EMS firms from tariffs heat Indian electronics manufacturers (EMS firms) are reshaping supply chains and diversifying exports to soften the blow of fresh US tariffs.Though the 50% US tariffs took effect on August 27, electronics and semiconductors remain exempt for now.Tell me more:Syrma SGS, a Mumbai-headquartered EMS provider, is only seeing marginal, short-term impact, managing director Jasbir Singh Gujral told us.Zetwerk, with factories in both India and the US, has used its dual footprint to buffer against tariff risks.Worldwide impact: Josh Foulger, president of Zetwerk’s electronics business, noted that these preemptive shifts are not just US focused, but also other countries turning to protectionist supply chain measures. “For manufacturers like us, diversification is essential, and each electronics category may require a different supply chain blend. Delivering the right blend is a matter of readiness and responsiveness,” he added.MeitY may push for GST portal as single window for IT exports The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is examining an information technology industry demand to make the goods and services tax portal a single digital window for all IT export reporting and certifications, officials told ET.The move to streamline the export registration process comes at a time when the sector remains rattled by indications that the Trump administration could extend tariffs to software imports into the US.Other Top Stories By Our Reporters Peak XV takes 23 startups under its wing: Venture capital firm Peak XV Partners has announced the 11th cohort of its early-stage accelerator programme, Surge, inducting 23 startups across the artificial intelligence (AI), financial services, consumer, and developer tool fields.Insurance check: Indians remain heavily dependent on employer-sponsored health insurance, often postponing the purchase of personal policies, according to a new report by insurtech startup Plum.Karnataka HC on bike taxis: A division bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice CM Joshi said it was inclined to pass a stay on the bike taxi ban. The bench added that it had given the government a month to come up with a policy, but nothing had been done.Global Picks We Are ReadingMeta poaches OpenAI scientist to help lead AI lab (Wired)EU opens competition probe into software group SAP (FT)AI is helping judges to quickly close cases, and lawyers to quickly open them (Rest of World)

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