New Delhi:

A notebook, featuring cricketer Virat Kohli, has been compared to Christopher Nolan’s iconic film ‘Inception’. A picture of the stationary item with the former Indian cricketer on its cover was shared on Twitter with a witty caption: “Virat Kohli on a notebook holding a notebook with Virat Kohli on it holding a notebook with Virat Kohli on it.”

Delivery app Blinkit was quick to draw a parallel between the notebook and Mr Nolan’s 2010 film, writing, “INKception”. 

‘Inception’ was about a dream within a dream that continues in a loop.

INKception ???? https://t.co/Mc3922HJsA

— Blinkit (@letsblinkit) February 12, 2025

Several other internet users gave their own spin to the viral photograph. One user wrote, “Kohliyaapa ho gaya.” 

Kohliyaapa ho gaya

— soo washed (@anubhav__tweets) February 11, 2025

Another added, “Inception level of advertising.”

Inception level of advertising

— kishor (@kishorrmishra) February 11, 2025

“Multiverse of Kohli,” read a comment. 

Multiverse of kohli ????

— dhruv (@dhruvlenka) February 11, 2025

Blinkit often indulges in social media banter with other brands. Last year, on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, food delivery giant Zomato shared a lighthearted message for Blinkit, the delivery company it acquired in 2022. In a post on its official X page, Zomato affectionately referred to Blinkit as its “adopted sis”, accompanied by a kiss emoji. 

Blinkit responded in equal measure, correcting Zomato’s terminology. “Adopted nahi acquired hota hai..itna bada hogaya pata nahi kab seekhega,” Blinkit wrote, implying that it was acquired, not adopted, and jokingly asking when Zomato would learn the difference. 

Adopted nahi acquired hota hai..itna bada hogaya pata nahi kab seekhega ???? https://t.co/JdNiOVOTH1

— Blinkit (@letsblinkit) August 19, 2024

Zomato also showered love on its “sister” Blinkit with a reel on Instagram. The reel opened with a man wearing a red Zomato T-shirt being tied a rakhi by a girl dressed in a yellow Blinkit T-shirt. After the rakhi ceremony, the Zomato ‘brother’ hands his Blinkit ‘sister’ a box of sweets, and she feeds him a sweet. But in an amusing turn of events, the Blinkit sister is then edited to transition into a monkey wearing the same yellow outfit. 

“Nice edit chote,” Blinkit responded to the video sarcastically. 

Zomato officially acquired Blinkit in August 2022 for a deal worth approximately $568 million (Rs 4,447 crore). After the acquisition, Blinkit’s founders, Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar, joined Zomato’s management team as part of the acquisition.

Kota:

A delivery agent of a quick commerce platform has been arrested for allegedly delivering cigarettes to underaged coaching students in Kota’s Landmark City area, police said on Sunday.

Satyaprakash Koli (48) was nabbed while he was supplying cigarettes to coaching students on Saturday evening, SP Kota city Amrita Duhan said.

The arrest was made during a crackdown against sale and supply of cigarettes by quick commerce platforms to underaged coaching students, the police said.

The accused, who works for Blinkit, has been booked under section 77 of Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act and under section 9/11 of Rajasthan Prohibition of Smoking and Non-smoker’s Health Protection Act, the SP said.

The city police had already written to representatives of Blinkit company at its office in Landmark City asking not to sell and supply cigarettes to minor students, but despite the instruction, the company was found to be selling them to the coaching students, she said.

Investigation is underway to find out other personnel of the company involved in sale and supply of prohibited material to the minors, she added.

The police will also file a chargesheet against the company, Kunhadi Circle Inspector Arvind Bhardwaj said.

Supplying smoking material and tobacco to minors is a serious offence and police, during investigation, will also take into account the company’s distribution network of prohibited items in other cities, he said Stock and supply registers, recovered from the company’s store, were seized for examination, he said.

The accused was produced before court on Sunday and sent to jail, the officer said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Expanding beyond daily essentials, beauty products, pet care, baby care items, and food, Blinkit has introduced a new service. The quick commerce firm provides an ambulance to a patient’s doorstep within approximately 10 minutes.

Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa announced on X that the initiative launched on Thursday with an initial fleet of five ambulances operating in Gurugram.

“Ambulance in 10 minutes. We are taking our first step towards solving the problem of providing quick and reliable ambulance service in our cities. The first five ambulances will be on the road in Gurugram starting today. As we expand the service to more areas, you will start seeing an option to book a Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulance through the @letsblinkit app,” Mr Dhindsa posted.

Ambulance in 10 minutes.

We are taking our first step towards solving the problem of providing quick and reliable ambulance service in our cities. The first five ambulances will be on the road in Gurugram starting today. As we expand the service to more areas, you will start… pic.twitter.com/N8i9KJfq4z

— Albinder Dhindsa (@albinder) January 2, 2025

The CEO said they aim to solve the problem of providing quick and reliable ambulance service in Indian cities.

“As we expand the service to more areas, you will start seeing an option to book a Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulance through the Blinkit app,” said Mr Dhindsa in the X post.

According to Mr Dhindsa, Blinkit ambulances are equipped with essential life-saving equipment, including oxygen cylinders, an AED (Automated External Defibrillator), a stretcher, a monitor, a suction machine, and essential emergency medicines and injections.

Each ambulance would have a paramedic, an assistant and a trained driver to make sure they can deliver quality service.

“Profit is not a goal here,” the startup founder said. “We will operate this service at an affordable cost for customers and invest in really solving this critical problem for the long term.”

Blinkit aims to expand to all major cities over the next two years.

As Blinkit launched this ambulance service, Mr Dhindsa appealed to people to make way for an ambulance always.

 

Blinkit’s co-founder and CEO Albinder Dhindsa on Tuesday revealed what was ordered most on the quick commerce company’s mobile application on New Year’s Eve, drawing a sharp response from comedian Kunal Kamra, who questioned how much average wages he paid to his delivery partners in 2024.

In a post on X, he said Zomato-backed Blinkit, which claims it delivers items within 10 minutes, received the highest-ever orders in a day, the highest OPM (orders per minute), the highest OPH (orders per hour) and the highest total tips given to delivery partners in a day.

‘1,22,356 packs of condoms, 45,531 bottles of mineral water, 22,322 Partysmart, 2,434 Eno are enroute right now! Prep for after party?,” he posted.

1,22,356 packs of condoms
45,531 bottles of mineral water
22,322 Partysmart
2,434 Eno

..are enroute right now! Prep for after party?

— Albinder Dhindsa (@albinder) December 31, 2024

Kunal Kamra, however, attacked Mr Dhindsa and said the quick commerce platform owners “exploit gig workers” and they “aren’t job creators”.

They are landlords without owning any land, Mr Kamra, who was last year engaged in a fight with Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal over the after-sales and service quality of the company’s electric scooters, charged.

While we enjoy the convenience of quick commerce I’d like my first tweet of 2025 to be about the dark side.

Platform owners exploit gig workers & they aren’t job creators.

They are landlords without owning any land.

They don’t have a bone of creativity or innovation all…

— Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) December 31, 2024

“While we enjoy the convenience of quick commerce I’d like my first tweet of 2025 to be about the dark side. They (platform owners) don’t have a bone of creativity or innovation all they do is exploit people by offering them freedom that they can’t afford while giving them wages that can’t meet their aspirations,” he said.

ALSO READ | From Porsche To BMW, Video Of Luxury Cars Parked At Zomato, Blinkit Offices Goes Viral

He alleged they are “thugs that are using data as oil without paying for the oil fields”.

“Someday there will be regulation that humbles them,” he added.

Mr Kamra also asked the Blinkit CEO to “enlighten” the public with data on the average wages he paid his delivery partners in 2024.

Can you also enlighten us with data on the average wages you paid your “Delivery Partners” in 2024… https://t.co/v0yBlvobCQ

— Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) December 31, 2024

Mr Dhindsa was yet to respond.

What Blinkit Delivery Boys Are Paid

Blinkit delivery partners earn up to Rs 50,000 per month with incentives and other benefits, according to the company’s website.

Their payments are made every 7 days and they can be their “own boss” by choosing their work hours (4, 8 or 10 hours), the website says.

The delivery partners, who should be 18 years of age or older, also get up to Rs 10 lac accidental and medical insurance.

They also get a joining bonus of up to Rs 4,000.

Blinkit, a Unicorn based in Gurugram, currently serves in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, and other major cities.

A Reddit user has gone viral after he ordered a PlayStation 5 Slim from the quick commerce platform, Blinkit, and received ‘hing goli’ (Asafoetida) as ‘free gift’. The original poster (OP) had ordered the digital edition of PS5 alongside peanut butter when he received the rather quirky gift. “The best part was about buying it from Blinkit along with Peanut butter,” the OP captioned the post on the r/ps5India subreddit while sharing pictures of the PS5 box as well as the invoice where he received the ‘hing goli’.

As the post gained traction, users noticed the odd but amusing gift and reacted humorously to the situation. “Free hing goli is insane bro,” said one user, while another added: “This is the most funniest PS5 buying post on the server.”

Another commented: “This is the guy who orders a PS5 to get free delivery of peanut butter.”

Some users even playfully questioned the OP on how he managed to explain the grocery shopping list to his family. “Tf is this grocery shopping. How did you even explain it to your family?”

Blinkit delivery in 8 minutes

Last month, a UAE resident boasted about receiving his PS5 in only 23 minutes which led to a deluge of Indian users showcasing the sub-10 minute delivery of the gaming device in various cities of the country.

“Who is gonna tell him?” wrote an Indian user, sharing a screenshot of the PS5 being delivered in only eight minutes.

Who is gonna tell him @letsblinkit https://t.co/UtoLNn5dV3 pic.twitter.com/43TihwBCC0

— Irffan (@IrffanAsiff) November 5, 2024

Also Read | 7 Games You Should Play First On PS5

Sony and Blinkit partner

In April, earlier this year, Sony partnered with the Zomato-owned quick commerce platform to sell PS5 in India. Blinkit’s CEO, Albinder Dhindsa took to social media to announce the move, stating that customers in Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru could get the PS5 Slim editions and the dual sense controller delivered to them in 10 minutes.

The PlayStation 5 Slim is currently priced at Rs 47,490 while the PlayStation 5 Slim Digital Edition costs Rs 37,490. However, gamers in India will have to wait for PS5 Pro owing to a telecom spectrum hurdle in the country. The new iteration of the gaming console supports WiFi 7 that utilises a 6Ghz spectrum band which is yet to be allocated in India.

Quick-commerce platforms Blinkit, BigBasket, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto have promised to deliver gold and silver coins to your doorstep this Diwali. And that too in just ten minutes. These services have partnered with renowned jewellers to meet the growing demand for precious metals this festive season.

Blinkit

Blinkit has a selection of gold and silver coins from jewellers Malabar Gold & Diamonds and Joyalukkas. Albinder Dhindsa, co-founder and CEO of Blinkit, extended the Dhanteras wishes, sharing the festival’s “special” delivery with his followers. His X post read, “Dhanteras special: Get authentic Gold & Silver coins delivered in 10 minutes from Blinkit. We’ve got Silver (10g) and Gold (1g and 0.5g) coins from trusted brands like Malabar, Joyalukkas and MMTC.”

Dhanteras special: Get authentic Gold & Silver coins delivered in 10 minutes from Blinkit ????

We’ve got Silver (10g) and Gold (1g and 0.5g) coins from trusted brands like Malabar, Joyalukkas and MMTC.

Happy Dhanteras everyone pic.twitter.com/MFYfu9oG6d

— Albinder Dhindsa (@albinder) October 29, 2024

BigBasket

BigBasket has teamed up with jewellery brand Tanishq to offer exclusive gold and silver coins to customers in various cities. Customers can choose from Tanishq’s 10g Lakshmi Ganesh silver coin with 999.9 purity, a 1g 22-karat gold coin and a 1g gold coin adorned with a Lakshmi motif. Seshu Kumar, chief buying and merchandising officer at BigBasket, said that this collaboration with Tanishq was part of a wider strategy to increase their offerings during festive occasions. “This Diwali, BigBasket is committed to fulfilling our customers’ needs in just 10 minutes,” Mr Kumar said.

Swiggy Instamart

Not to be outdone, Swiggy Instamart has partnered with Malabar Gold & Diamonds, Muthoot Exim and Jar to bring home gold and silver coins. Customers can buy the Jar 24 Karat Gold Coin in weights of 0.1 g, 0.25 g, 0.5 g and 1 g.

Muthoot Exim also provides a 24K Gold Coin (1 g), while Malabar offers a selection that includes a 24K Gold Coin (1 g) and 999 Purity Silver Coins available in 5 g, 11.66 g, and 20 g options. “Get all Dhanteras essentials like coins, utensils, jewellery, idols & more in 10 minutes! And that’s not all…also get assured rewards worth Rs 51,000 from Jar,” Swiggy said in a promotional message.

Zepto

Zepto is giving customers the option to buy the Augmont 24K Banyan Tree Gold Coin in weights of 0.1 g, 0.5 g, and 1 g, along with the Augmont 24K 999 Pure Silver Coin (10 g). Additionally, Malabar offers a variety of choices, including the 24K Rose Gold Coin (0.5 g), the 24K Laxmi Gold Coin (1 g), and the 999 Pure Laxmi Ganesh Silver Coin (10 g).

Dhanteras marks the commencement of the Diwali festival and is regarded as one of the most auspicious days for purchases, particularly of brass, silver and gold items. It is believed that buying these materials on this day invites good fortune and success, and safeguards negative influences. This year, Dhanteras is on October 29.