Deepinder Goyal Says Blinkit Ambulance To Charge For Non-Emergency, Explains Why

Blinkit has announced a major policy shift for its quick-response ambulance service, introducing a flat fee of Rs 2,500 for non-emergency bookings. Explaining the decision, Eternal founder Deepinder Goyal noted that the move is aimed at stopping people from using the vehicles for routine, non-emergency tasks that can be handled by normal cabs. Notably, the emergency transfers will remain completely free of charge. 

In a latest post on X (formerly Twitter), Goyal revealed that over the past two years, Blinkit's ambulance service has handled roughly 42,000 cases in total, including about 20,000 emergency runs, without charging patients a single rupee.

But the company also observed that a large number of people called ambulances for routine doctor appointments, regular checkups, and transfers from hospitals back home, he added.

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"So we are making a change from now onwards: Emergency transfers - free, as always. Non-emergency transfers - Rs 2,500, charged after the trip," he wrote. "Broadly in line with what private ambulances charge."

"We hope that this charge will dramatically drop the usage of our Ambulances for non-emergency cases. 10-minute ambulances have saved and can save thousands of lives, and we need to keep them available for emergencies that need them the most."

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See the post here:

I started Zomato with a spirit of service. Blinkit Ambulance is what that spirit of service looks like today. In the last 2 years, we have served ~20,000 emergency cases (~42,000 cases in total). We haven't charged a single rupee for any of them. And we want to keep it that way. With everything free, a growing share of bookings are for routine checkups, hospital visits and hospital-to-home transfers, trips that an Uber or private transport could have handled just as easily. Every such booking keeps a fully equipped emergency ambulance with paramedics off the road when someone's life may depend on it. So we are making a change from now onwards: Emergency transfers – free, as always. Non-emergency transfers – ₹2,500, charged after the trip. Broadly in line with what private ambulances charge. This money goes to Eternal Foundation, which runs these ambulances and will help us scale them even further. We hope that this charge will dramatically drop the usage of our Ambulances for non-emergency cases. 10-minute ambulances have saved and can save thousands of lives, and we need to keep them available for emergencies that need them the most. One more thing. Scaling high quality ambulances is hard. The biggest bottleneck is trained, empathic paramedics. Our training academy is scaling as fast as we can without compromising on quality, and @albinder and team are committed to bringing Blinkit Ambulance to all major cities in India in the next 2-4 years. Stay well, and I pray you don't need us. @sparsh_sehgal – I wish your grandma a speedy recovery, and I am so glad we were able to be there on time.

— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) November 5, 2026

He added that the money collected from non-emergency trips will go directly to the Eternal Foundation, the organisation running the fleet, to help scale operations further.

Scaling high-quality medical transport is a tough challenge, mainly due to a shortage of trained, empathetic paramedics. 

Goyal was responding to a post by a user who praised the Blinkit ambulance service for saving his grandmother's life.

"Things went south suddenly, but they reached home in 8 minutes and drove her to the emergency ward promptly," the user wrote. "Forever grateful. No hospital ambulance could have managed this response time."

In response, Goyal said, "Stay well, and I pray you don't need us. @sparsh_sehgal - I wish your grandma a speedy recovery, and I am so glad we were able to be there on time."

Social media reactions

"The only loophole is who decides something is an emergency transfer or not?" one user wrote. 

"People should be a little more thoughtful when they use such services. This charge is actually good. The problem with Indians is that they think anything free is their birthright. Well, due to these things, I love capitalism," another user said. 

"This is great work; how can we help to scale it up more?" a third user said.