The platform and gig economy exemplifies a profound change in the structuring, exchanging and rewarding of labor in the economy. Typically, the traditional employment relationship is based on long-term contracts, and identifiable employers, while gig work is based on digitally mediated, decentralized work transactions between service providers and clients. This in turn has significant implications for the legal system, labor rights, and social protection systems in India. Given its growing digital infrastructure and surplus labor force, India is a site of such work.
According to estimates from the International Labor Organization (ILO), there were more than 777 digital labor platforms worldwide by 2023, thus generating millions of jobs and exacerbating employment precarities. In addition, the NITI Aayog estimated that gig and platform employment workforce was 7.7 million and would grow to 23.5 million by 2030, which would be about 6.7% of the non-agricultural workforce in India. This was reaffirmed in the ILO’s 2024, “Expansion of the Gig and Platform Economy in India Report” which agrees and takes note that platform workers have developed into a new class of economic actors that still have an unclear legal status and recognition.
The ambiguity that workers faced was further compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though the lockdowns imposed did halt many sectors, platform based services, such as delivery, online freelancing, and logistics, quickly expanded. This underscored both the resilience and the vulnerabilities present in the gig work sector. Questions of social security problems escalated, as did the issue of declining incomes due to rising platform commissions and algorithmic opacity. In response to this uncertain political economy of labor, questions around the employment categorization of platform workers have become urgent. Are these workers employees, independent contractors, or a categorization of something in between? This paper examines these issues through the lens of the Indian laws, comparative global analysis and emerging policy responses
This study examines the gig economy as a site of contested employment relations, interrogating how algorithmic governance reshapes the social contract between workers and platforms. Drawing on a scoping review of 145 studies, this paper develops a conceptual framework integrating precarious work theory, power dynamics, and employment relations constructs—including worker voice, collective agency, and dispute resolution—to analyse the structural conditions of platform-mediated labour in India. The analysis reveals that algorithmic management operates as a form of digital Taylorism, systematically eroding worker autonomy and bargaining power while reconfiguring the boundaries of the employment relationship. India’s gig workforce, projected to reach 23.5 million by 2029–30, represents a critical case where informality, rapid digitalisation, and weak institutional frameworks converge. The paper argues that addressing these conditions requires a ‘new social contract’ that reconceptualises obligations between platforms, workers, and the state, moving beyond descriptive cataloguing toward theoretically grounded employment relations analysis. Implications are drawn for voice mechanisms, collective bargaining models, and regulatory reform in the Indian context.
Sazzad Parwez· Discover Global Society· 0 citations
Gig economy has become one of the massive changes in the contemporary labour markets that are mainly influenced by digital platforms and technology. The gig economy encourages short-term, flexible, and task-based employment arrangements of work, unlike traditional models of employment, which are based on long-term contracts and hours worked. The studies in this research paper explore the organization, opportunities, and problems relating to the gig economy in a secondary data context. The paper examines its role in creating jobs, economic development as well as inclusive development besides emphasizing serious issues like income instability, absence of social security and regulation issues. The results indicate that despite the flexibility of working arrangements and ability to sustain economic growth, the lack of proper labour protection and social security systems poses a great challenge to the formulation of policies. As such, there is a need to have balanced regulation laws and workers protection in order to achieve sustainable growth of the gig economy.
Himanshu Agarwal, .. Shweta· Veethika: an international i...· 0 citations
This paper compares the gig economy in India and the United States, using NITI Aayog
household surveys and IRS tax records respectively. Both sectors grew quickly through the
2010s. India's gig workforce rose from 2.52 million in 2011–12 to 6.80 million in 2019–20, with
23.5 million projected by 2029–30, while American platform work reached about one per cent of
the workforce by 2016 and five million workers by 2021. The similarity ends there. India's micro,
small and medium enterprises have not created jobs fast enough to absorb new entrants to the
workforce, and the gig sector has employed the remainder. American platforms, by contrast,
grew alongside a labour market already operating near full employment, although even there 49
per cent of participants had no other job. In the United States, platform work is a second income
earned alongside a first job that carries health cover and unemployment insurance. In India, it is
informal work for 82.5 per cent of those engaged in it. Neither country measures this sector's
contribution to GDP, primarily because it escapes regulation, and because both countries have
built their statistics and labour laws around formal employment relationships.
Shivansh Kapoor· International Journal of Soc...· 0 citations
Abstract
India’s gig economy is rapidly growing, driven by digital platforms and changing workforce dynamics, with an estimated 12 million gig workers in financial year 2024-25. It is estimated to reach 23.5 million by 2029-30; this sector contributes 1.25% to India’s GDP. The workforce is predominantly young, educated and engaged in sectors with high mobility such as digital delivery and professional services. Key trends shaping India’s gig economy show that in recent years there has been a significant rise in skill diversification in this sector. Hyper-local gig work and skill-based platforms are expanding rapidly. Gig work is also emerging in green services and eco-friendly delivery. Despite these job opportunities, gig workers face challenges like income volatility, limited social benefits and uncertainties. Prioritizing inclusive growth, social security, and fair compensation is crucial. Many regulatory developments, including proposals for social security and platform regulations, are being introduced. By harnessing technology, promoting skill development, and implementing adaptive strategies, India can unlock this potential and promote opportunities for equitable growth for millions of gig workers.
Archna Sharma· International Journal For Mu...· 0 citations
This article addresses the policy asymmetries and global economic impacts of flexible and hybrid work models driven by multinational companies (Google, Microsoft). The study aims to analyse the gains provided by these models in terms of organisational efficiency and employee autonomy, as well as the managerial issues they have created, through a comparative approach. In the study, the gig economy, shaped by the development of the digital platform economy, was examined as a distinct area; adaptable frameworks such as Employer of Record, implemented by multinational companies in dynamic markets like Turkiye, were evaluated. The findings indicate that while the gig economy offers flexibility, it deepens structural issues such as income fluctuations, economic insecurity, and a lack of social protection for millions of workers operating under algorithmic control. The uncertain legal status of platform workers creates significant compliance challenges. In this context, the study concludes that a third status should be created to provide proportional social protection for workers subject to digital management, and that the right to disconnect should be legally guaranteed to prevent burnout and unequal power relations.
Meltem İnce Yenilmez· Uluslararası Yönetim Akademi...· 0 citations
The expansion of remote work, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic but rooted in longer-term structural trends, created the conditions for the rapid growth of a new category of digital labour intermediary: the Employer of Record (EOR). EOR platforms act as the formal legal employer of workers on behalf of client companies operating in jurisdictions where they have no corporate presence, centralising payroll, compliance, and statutory obligations within a tripartite, cross-border employment architecture. Despite the scale of this phenomenon, the EOR model remains underexplored in academic literature. Scholarship on remote work has focused primarily on productivity, engagement, and organisational outcomes, while scholarship on platform work has concentrated on task-based gig economy intermediaries. Neither body of literature adequately addresses the EOR model, which mediates ongoing skilled employment relationships across national legal systems and produces accountability gaps that existing regulatory frameworks are ill-equipped to resolve. This article examines the EOR model as a structurally distinct form of digital labour intermediation, tracing its emergence from the structural conditions of remote work, analyzing its legal architecture and its divergence from existing regulatory categories, and proposing a research agenda grounded in platform governance and comparative employment law.
F. Pacheco, Isadora Figueiredo· Journal of Management Resear...· 0 citations