He may now have to bail out much sooner.
An indefinite strike by India's largest truckers' union has pushed hundreds of thousands of trucks off the roads across the country and struck what could be the final blow to small transporters such as Gupta.
"In the last two months, we were barely breaking even," Gupta told Reuters at a state border post outside the capital, New Delhi, where more than 100 trucks stood idle by the highway.
"Now there is no business at all because of the strike. Still, I have to repay bank loans for four of my trucks, pay the drivers and maintain the vehicles," he said.
"But what option do I have? I have to stick by my brothers," he said, referring to the union.
As the strike entered its sixth day on Thursday, drivers at Badarpur killed time playing cards beside a normally choked highway. Assistants covered up consignments of steel and cement to keep off the rain.
Some drivers cleaned their trucks, others did repairs.
The All India Motor Transport Congress, India's largest truckers' union with about 3 million vehicles, called the strike to press for the scrapping of a 10 percent service tax on transport booking agents imposed in July.
The Finance Ministry says the tax is on transport agents and not truckers. But union leaders say there is hardly any difference between the two and vowed to stay on strike.
While the two sides hold daily talks but fail to reach a pact, markets across the country of more than one billion people are running out of fruit and vegetables.
Companies are struggling to cope as their products pile up and raw materials run out. Fear of inflation, already at a three-and-a-half year high, is on the rise.
The strike has hit truck owners more than drivers as India's trucking industry - which carries about 60 percent of goods - is largely made up of small fleet owners, such as Gupta, who employ drivers.