A gig that provides, and traps

For 25-year-old M. Anbarasan, a driver for a ride-hailing app in Chennai, the day begins at 6 a.m. and ends at 10 p.m. He drives a rented autorickshaw, and has been on the job for four years. Every day, he faces poor roads, difficult customers, frustrating traffic, and the relentless heat or rain. Asked how he manages to cope, Mr. Anbarasan replies, “What choice do we have?” The ‘choice’ perfectly encapsulates the irony of gig work. While one could argue that gig work offers flexibility — something that has attracted many young and middle-aged individuals who struggle to find traditional employment — activists and workers point to the staggering lack of agency these ‘delivery partners’ have.

According to the Code on Social Security 2020, a gig worker broadly means someone engaged in work or a work arrangement outside the traditional employer-employee relationship and earns an income from such activities. For the purpose of this article, however, it refers to ride-hailing app drivers and food or grocery delivery workers. According to a 2022 report by NITI Aayog, there were more than 10 million gig workers in India, and the number may rise to 23.5 million by 2030. None of them, termed ‘partners’ by the contracting firms, is entitled to the social security benefits provided to formal employees.

Declining wages

“Six years ago, I earned ₹600 for 10 orders; now, it’s just ₹250,” says S. Muthukumaran, a full-time worker for food delivery apps in Tiruchi for seven years. Riding 200 km daily, he makes ₹20,000-₹23,000 a month. But he spends ₹300 daily on fuel and ₹2,500 monthly on maintenance.

The delivery workers also complain about long rides on bad roads. It takes its toll on their health. “Often, I have to put up with shoulder pain and backache. But I have to pull along to make ends meet. Other jobs would not fetch me even ₹20,000-₹30,000 a month,” says a youth from Madurai.

For A. Priyalatha, a 35-year-old single mother from Lalgudi in Tiruchi, food delivery is a lifeline as well as a risk. She works at an Anganwadi from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and gets busy delivering orders with her two-wheeler from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. She works 13-hour shifts on Sundays to support her family. Safety is a major concern. “Drunk customers abuse us, and returning late can be terrifying,” she says, citing threats from stray dogs and intoxicated men.

D. Chithra, of Tambaram, a driver of an online ride-hailing service, says men book the bikes meant only for women to travel with female two-wheeler drivers. “Many travel properly, but some indulge in indecent behaviour. I’m not scared of them, and I ask them not to sit too close. But having to do that every day is uncomfortable. I now call up the customer to check whether it is a woman before accepting the ride,” she says.

Work pressure

Though some workers say they face no pressure over timely delivery, the nature of the job itself pushes them to complete each delivery as quickly as possible to receive the next as soon as they can. The preliminary results of a survey of 82 food and grocery delivery workers in Chennai show that most don’t take leave, and sometimes work on all days of the week, ruining the work-life balance. The survey was done by Sivaranchani M., a final-year student of M.Sc. Counselling Psychology, University of Madras, and Harini S., Guest Lecturer, Department of Counselling Psychology of the university.

While delivery work has provided unemployed youths with an opportunity to earn, not all of them are happy with their working conditions. They say they need to wrap up at least 20-25 orders in 10 hours to earn a meagre incentive of over ₹200 a day. Chithra, a food delivery worker in Coimbatore for three years, says that on days when she takes up around 25 orders, she cannot even use toilet facilities or fill up her water bottle at restaurants. “But you earn more during such busy days. The pressure to take more orders is mostly personal — having to clear debt, pursue studies, and manage a household.”

Extra distances driven because of temporary traffic diversions, jams, or protests are not factored into the travel allowance. Ajith Kumar, an app-dependent autorickshaw driver in Chennai, says the poor road conditions make it challenging to reach passengers quickly once a ride is booked. However, after covering one or two kilometres, passengers often cancel the ride, citing that the ‘wait time was too long’. “These 2 km are covered in vain. In total, we drive about 10 km every day without earning any money,” he adds.

Prem Kumar K., a bike-taxi driver, says long empty trips make rides unprofitable in Tiruchi. “I travel four kilometres to pick up a passenger who rides just 1 km. I earn ₹22. But I am not paid for 8 km of riding,” he says. Many drivers The Hindu spoke to in various cities say the app fails to accurately reflect the distance covered to deliver what has been ordered. Though the system allows them to raise a ticket whenever there is an issue in the recorded distance, they often receive no response.

T. Vaitheeswaran, a 36-year-old delivery executive with 85% disability, says, “There are neither special IDs nor facilities for workers with disabilities.” The cash on delivery system is particularly problematic for drivers like him.

According to activists and policy experts, the lack of collective bargaining rights weakens gig workers’ ability to negotiate fair wages, unionise, or get their working conditions improved. The platforms also have stringent rules. Food delivery workers are given bags to carry the food and T-shirts. “But we need to pay ₹2,000 for them, though we indirectly advertise for the company with those T-shirts and boxes as we move around the city,” says one of them.

Many food delivery workers complain that they are penalised by the companies through hefty fines when eateries mix up the food items or fail to pack some items ordered. If such complaints are received more than 10 times, the company blocks their account and the workers have to pay a penalty to reopen it. Mr. Muthukumaran of Tiruchi says he takes only two days off a month and recently lost four days of earnings under a new 10-minute delivery service that mandates Sunday shifts. Under this system, missing a day, even after working five days, cuts the entire week’s pay.

Legal framework insufficient

Shalaka Chauhan, a labour policy researcher, says that though the Code on Social Security recognises gig and platform workers as distinct categories and mandates social security schemes for them, it lacks the understanding of the nature of work, the conditions, and the overall demands of the workers. “The enforcement mechanism of the code is weak and unclear and does not grant them ‘employee’ or ‘formalised’ status, which leaves them without access to minimum wages, regulated working hours, collective bargaining rights, protection from termination, and workplace safety protections,” she says.

Women gig workers face heightened risks of harassment and violence while entering private space for work, especially beauty services. Platforms often lack robust mechanisms to address these safety issues or provide redress, Ms. Chauhan points out. Lack of maternity benefits also leaves women without adequate financial or job security during critical stages.

In the Union Budget 2025-26, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said gig workers employed by online platforms would be registered on the e-Shram portal and granted access to public health insurance under the PM Jan Arogya Yojana. While this is a welcome first step, there is still a long way to go, say experts.

Ms. Chauhan says platforms often fail to provide adequate climate-resilient measures like cooling gear, hydration stations, sheds, or paid sick leave during extreme weather events. “If the government doesn’t put out an order, how will the corporates do it on their own,” asks Mr. Anbarasan, the ride-hailing app driver in Chennai.

In December 2023, the Tamil Nadu government established the Tamil Nadu Platform-Based Gig Workers’ Welfare Board. Sources indicate that around 4,000 are registered, a small fraction of the more than 4.5 lakh delivery workers in the State. “We tried pushing for legislation, but we got a welfare board instead,” says S. Ramakrishna, leader of the Tamil Nadu Food and Allied Delivery Personnel Union.

Challenges in unionising

For drivers, the agency to negotiate employment wages is non-existent. “I understand that asking passengers to pay an extra ₹100 for long distances may seem unfair, but the per-kilometre rate is extremely low. The company refuses to revise the rates, so how else are we supposed to offset the cost,” asks Mr. Anbarasan. Mr. Ramakrishna explains that the temporary nature of the work makes it difficult to mobilise people. “In the first year after registering our union, we recruited around 2,000 members. However, when we asked them to renew their membership with a small fee after the first year, we found that 67% of them had left the gig workforce,” he says.

Anousha P., a member of the national coordination committee, Gig and Platform Services Workers Union, acknowledges that the temporary nature of the work and the fact that many workers are migrants pose challenges. However, she believes a union can aid in collective bargaining and mobilisation, as workers often lack a human recourse for complaints. It can also facilitate direct communication between employers and employees.

New measures

Presenting the Budget for 2025-26 on March 14, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu announced a scheme to offer a ₹20,000 subsidy each to 2,000 registered gig workers for buying an e-scooter. Mr. Ajith Kumar, who has been in the gig workforce for four years, says, “We drive more than 120 kilometres a day. If it is an e-scooter, how will we recharge it?” The State government also plans to introduce a group insurance scheme, covering accidental death and disability, for around 1.5 lakh workers.

S.A. Raman, Commissioner of Labour, Tamil Nadu, acknowledges that the on-boarding of gig workers into the Tamil Nadu Platform-Based Gig Workers’ Welfare Board has been slow. He adds that a common issue the workers face while accessing schemes through welfare boards under the Labour Department is the OTP verification of their Aadhaar numbers. To address this, the authorities plan to register workers through a biometric system. The drive is to be launched soon. Experts, however, argue that at the State and national levels, regulations should mandate rest periods, health insurance, and workplace safety, with comprehensive benefits, including pensions, disability coverage, and maternity leave. For short-term workers, scaled-down protections, like proportional social security contributions, should apply. Platforms must also provide workers with accessible systems to report issues such as non-payment or unfair treatment, says Ms. Chauhan.

(With inputs from R. Aishwaryaa in Chennai, Nacchinarkkiniyan M. in Tiruchi, S. Sundar in Madurai.)