When Gopal (name changed), a 35-year-old driver with 15 years of experience, joined a ride hailing firm in 2017, he hoped the platform would provide him with financial stability. But as commissions rose and earnings dwindled, the reality proved far more difficult.
“With commissions going up to 30 percent, we often have no choice but to ask for more than the estimated fare,” Gopal said in an interview. “That leads to arguments with passengers.” And inevitably resulting in poor ratings.
Gopal recalled how a fellow driver’s account was suspended following customer complaints, allegedly for requesting additional fare. “No one blames the company’s policies,” he added. “They always blame the driver.”
Gopal’s experience reflects a growing unease among a sprawling gig workforce, whose members span food delivery, ride-hailing, grocery logistics, and home services. Many workers, experts say, remain subject to opaque performance metrics and shifting algorithms, even as the gig economy continues to expand.
Sonal Arora, country manager for India at Gi Group Holding, acknowledged the structural evolution of the sector. “The gig model isn’t new to India,” she said, “but the arrival of platforms like Ola, Uber, Zomato, Zepto, Blinkit, and Urban Company has formalized it in ways we hadn’t seen before. That structure, however, still lacks guardrails.”
Despite the increase in job opportunities and nominal wage growth, the basic working conditions for many gig workers remain troubling, according to researchers and labor advocates.
Balaji Parthasarathy, a professor at the International Institute of Information Technology in Bangalore and principal investigator for the Fairwork India project, noted that delivery executives frequently work long hours, often for minimal compensation. “These are not truly flexible jobs,” he said. “There’s constant precarity.”
Interviews conducted by Storyboard18 with workers at food delivery and q-comm platforms echo that sentiment. Pratap (name changed), who works part-time as a delivery agent, said he earns roughly Rs 200 for a five-hour shift. Another worker described a company’s payment structure as erratic. “Sometimes I get a decent payout, sometimes very little,” he said. “It’s never clear what I’m being paid for – orders or hours.”
Professor Parthasarathy argued that the term “gig worker” itself is becoming outdated. “These are now platform workers,” he said. “The original idea of flexibility and task-based freedom is giving way to systems with very little autonomy.”
Some platforms have introduced initiatives that aim to offer more stability. Swiggy, for instance, launched an accelerator program in 2022 to help delivery partners transition into managerial roles. Zomato allows workers to operate across multiple platforms.
Yet cases of systemic strain persist. A recent social media post by a customer of Urban Company brought renewed attention to the platform’s policies, claiming that service professionals were penalized for missing appointments – even due to illness – and were denied breaks between bookings. The post cited the case of a masseuse diagnosed with a hernia after months of relentless work without adequate rest.
Surender Bhagat, co-founder of Gigin Technologies, highlighted the challenge of evaluating gig workers in systems designed for traditional employment. “You can’t assess them the same way you do full-time staff,” he said. “They’re paid per task. Blurring those lines is problematic.”
Customer rating systems, common across gig platforms, add another layer of complexity. While designed to ensure quality, they can often be arbitrary. “Ratings are deeply subjective,” said Professor Parthasarathy. “Social and unconscious biases play a major role.”
Arora agreed, urging companies to rethink how they interpret customer feedback. “Ratings should be a developmental tool, not an evaluative one,” she said. “They should help workers improve, not punish them.”
There have been some signs of progress. According to the Fairwork India 2024 report, platforms like BigBasket and Urban Company meet the “Fair Pay” standard, ensuring full and timely payments. Both firms also have public policies guaranteeing workers at least the local minimum wage after deducting work-related expenses such as fuel, maintenance, and mobile data.
Still, experts stress that much more is needed. “Worker education is essential,” said Bhagat. “Training programs and consistent government regulation are critical.”
The government has recently made attempts to address these concerns. In the 2025 Union Budget, the government introduced new welfare measures for gig workers, including identity cards, healthcare access under the PM Jan Arogya Yojana, and enhanced registration through the e-Shram portal, which aims to build a national database for the unorganized workforce.
Whether these policies will translate into meaningful improvements for gig workers remains to be seen. “When regulatory frameworks benefit platforms, they’re welcomed,” Parthasarathy said. “But when they aim to protect workers, they’re often resisted. That contradiction needs to be addressed.”