Why India’s gig workers lack any form of financial security
In 2025, when job security is an all-time low, and inflation is at an all-time high, the gig economy has become a lifeline for millions looking to eke out a living. As per a report by the NITI Aayog, the gig economy provides employment to about 77 lakh people in 2021. These are primarily those who deliver your takeout dinner, groceries or household maintenance services at your doorstep. Many of them have no option but to accept these jobs, as nothing else is available, and they pay a consistent income needed to sustain their family.
The rapid adoption of these app-based marketplaces like Swiggy, Zomato and Urban Company have spawned a whole generation of gig workers who depend on these apps for sustenance. According to reports, about half of them earn less than Rs.15,000 per month, even though almost 85% of them work more than 8 hours a day, not enough to pay for all of their needs, let alone savings.
Deliberate misclassification
On paper, they are classified as ‘independent contractors’ or other euphemisms like partners or delivery entrepreneurs, all of which allow their status to remain ambiguous. This allows these app-based platforms to shirk responsibility for their well-being.
The result? Almost 75% of these gig workers don’t receive crucial income security benefits like provident fund deductions, ESIC or any kind of insurance. Worse, they have to bear the costs during their work commutes- vehicle breakdowns or accidents without any help from the company that hired them. As they are essentially freelance workers, they don’t get any overtime or paid leaves that most office-based workers get, forcing them to work longer without any hope of getting better pay.
A lifeline for low-skilled workers
Many jobseekers are increasingly looking at these jobs as an economic lifeline, in the same way call center jobs had become the easiest way to secure any sort of employment in the early 2000s. After automation reduced the requirement for customer care jobs, these freelance gig-based jobs eventually replaced them as a steady source of income for all kinds of job seekers.
Unlike then, there is no immediate threat of automation to delivering takeout, groceries or performing household chores. Many students, laid-off professionals or workers do such jobs to survive in the economy where desired jobs are few and far between.
Looking the other way
The government is just starting to notice. It began in 2020, when Parliament passed the Code on Social Security, recognising platform workers and gig workers as categories eligible for social security schemes. This had come as a welcome step, but only on paper. There hasn’t been a serious effort to implement this law, even as the government aims to document gig workers through its e-Sharm database. Since its launch in 2021, the e-Sharm database. On its site, the government claims almost 30 crore people have been issued e-Sharm ID cards, but in practice, they are just that, ID cards.
In March this year, the government urged these gig workers to register for these e-Sharm cards to access the ₹ 5 lakh per family/year Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY). Although many have done so, most of them can’t benefit from the scheme due to a fundamental flaw in the scheme —the requirement of a local ration card. Most of these workers are migrants, and this requirement makes them ineligible by default.
Even though many of these gig workers depend on these employers for sustenance, they are at the mercy of the apps algorithms, which dictate where they need to deliver their next order without factoring in challenges they face with traffic, vehicle breakdowns or run-ins with the police. Any delays detected can risk ‘deactivation’ from the platform by its algorithm, effectively firing them without any chance of explaining themselves.
Gig work only in name
Though such jobs are generally denoted part time work, working to deliver parcels is anything but that. The orders keep coming, and these workers have to keep working, even if they’re sick or old, as responsibilities keep them tied to their jobs.
During the COVID pandemic, such gig workers were considered the lifeline of the economy, even though they were most vulnerable to disease. In the event they did fall sick, only charity or generosity would help them get back on their feet.
Considering the ever-increasing popularity of these delivery platforms, the NITI Aayog estimates that these gig workers would represent almost 7% of India’s non-farm workforce. Till now, the government hasn’t taken them that seriously, even as it offers a ray of hope for thousands of mostly urban migrants looking to eke out a living. In successive elections since the pandemic, both the Congress and BJP had promised various social security schemes and pensions for gig workers, but most of them are yet to be implemented in right earnest. Maybe we’ll have to wait for the next elections for this and hope the promises will be implemented.
<p>The post Why India’s gig workers lack any form of financial security first appeared on Hello Entrepreneurs.</p>
