Zomato is restructuring its customer support operations, shutting its Hyderabad customer support centre and affecting around 250–300 workers as the food-delivery company moves towards a more consolidated and outsourced support model.
The development was reported on August 31, with employees informed about the decision as part of a review of Zomato’s Customer Delight operating model and organisational requirements.
The move, however, does not mean Zomato is shutting down its overall operations in Hyderabad. The restructuring is specific to its customer-support function, with the remaining in-house support operations set to be consolidated at the company’s Gurugram headquarters.
Zomato shifts customer support to Gurugram
Zomato’s remaining in-house customer-support team will operate from a single location in Gurugram, bringing it closer to the company’s product, technology, analytics and business teams.
The company said its customer-support model has changed significantly over the past six months, with a larger share of the workload now being handled by specialised external partners.
The restructuring is therefore aimed at reorganising the remaining in-house operation rather than simply eliminating customer support jobs.
“It is not a reflection of their performance, commitment or contribution,” the company said in reference to the affected Hyderabad workers, according to reports.
Around 250–300 workers affected
Reports differ slightly on the number of workers impacted.
While several reports have put the figure at around 250, NDTV Profit and other reports citing company sources put the number of affected Hyderabad colleagues at approximately 240. Moneycontrol reported that around 250–300 call-centre workers are affected.
Moneycontrol also reported an important detail: the affected call-centre workers are employed through third-party service providers rather than being directly on Zomato’s payroll.
For that reason, the development is more accurately described as a restructuring of Zomato’s Hyderabad customer-support workforce rather than a conventional corporate layoff involving 250–300 direct Zomato employees.
What will affected workers receive?
Zomato is reportedly providing a separation package to those affected by the shutdown.
Workers will receive their August salary along with four months’ pay, comprising contractual notice pay and a one-time ex-gratia payment.
The company will also continue medical insurance and counselling support until March 31, 2027.
In addition, affected workers will reportedly be allowed to retain their company-issued laptops and earphones for personal use. Zomato is also providing outplacement assistance to help them find new employment opportunities.
Why is Zomato changing its support model?
The restructuring comes as Zomato increasingly relies on a combination of external service providers, automation and artificial intelligence to handle customer interactions.
According to Moneycontrol, Zomato has been expanding the use of its internally developed customer-support platform, Nugget. Figures cited by the publication indicate that the platform has handled more than 2.2 billion conversations and has achieved around 85% automation coverage across teams.
The shift reflects a broader change across consumer-internet businesses, where companies are attempting to automate repetitive customer queries while outsourcing parts of their support operations.
For a platform handling millions of orders, issues such as delivery updates, refunds, cancellations and basic order queries are increasingly suited to automated workflows.
The result is a customer-support structure that requires fewer large, location-specific in-house teams.
Zomato has cut customer-support jobs before
The latest restructuring is not Zomato’s first significant reduction in its customer-support workforce.
In April 2025, the company reportedly cut around 500–600 junior-level customer-support positions after hiring about 1,500 people through its Associate Accelerator Programme.
The latest move is different in nature. Rather than being described as a performance-linked reduction, Zomato has attributed the Hyderabad shutdown to changes in its customer-support operating model.
A sign of where food-tech support is heading
The Hyderabad closure highlights a larger shift taking place across India's consumer internet and food-tech sector.
Customer support was once heavily dependent on large teams of agents working from dedicated centres. Today, companies are increasingly combining AI-powered automation with outsourced service providers and smaller in-house teams.
For Zomato, the strategy allows the remaining internal support function to sit closer to its technology and product teams, while external partners handle a larger share of customer interactions.
But the shift also raises questions about the future of traditional customer-service employment in India's technology and consumer-internet ecosystem.
As AI systems become capable of handling an increasing share of routine queries, large customer-support centres may no longer require the same workforce they once did.
For Zomato, the Hyderabad shutdown is therefore more than a local office closure. It is another indication of how rapidly the economics and structure of customer support are changing across India's digital economy.
Key details
Company: Zomato, owned by Eternal Ltd.
Location being shut: Hyderabad customer-support centre
Workers affected: Approximately 250–300, with company-linked reports citing around 240
Remaining in-house support: Consolidated in Gurugram
Reason: Restructuring of the Customer Delight operating model
Major shift: Greater use of external partners and automation
Severance: Four months' pay, including notice pay and ex-gratia
Insurance & counselling: Continued until March 31, 2027
Other support: Outplacement assistance and transfer of company-issued laptops/earphones
The bigger takeaway: Zomato is not walking away from customer support; it is redesigning how customer support is delivered — with fewer location-based in-house teams and a greater reliance on technology and external partners.