Project Info
- Year of Completion : 2025
- User Department : Department of Labour, Government of Telangana
Description
The gig economy is flourishing in Telangana, particularly in Hyderabad, driven by thriving sectors such as quick commerce, health tech, fintech, and e-commerce. Hyderabad has experienced a notable growth in gig work demand, surpassing many tier-1 cities. Additionally, tier-2 cities like Warangal and Nizamabad in Telangana are also witnessing an upward trend in gig work adoption, underscoring its increasing popularity throughout the state. In response to the expanding gig economy and its opportunities, particularly in Hyderabad, the Government has recently committed to developing a policy aimed at protecting the interests of gig workers. Against this backdrop, the Department of Labour has desired to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the socio-economic dynamics of gig, and platform workers in the state and this work was assigned to CGG.
The study adopted a two-pronged approach where primary and secondary research methods are used. As part of primary data collection, face-to-face interviews with workers associated with ridesharing, food delivery, and e-commerce platforms were conducted in Hyderabad. The perspectives of the workers w.r.t their socioeconomic status, issues, challenges and suggestions were collected. Additionally, stakeholder consultations were conducted with gig and platform workers' unions, civil society, and various aggregator platforms to obtain their insights.
Considering key provisions of the Code on Social Security 2020, Motor Vehicle Aggregators Guidelines 2020, and Rajasthan Platform-based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare Act, 2023), the first legislation in the country, the study suggested a comprehensive policy and some of the recommendations are:
- Registration of gig and platform workers to recognise the workers,
- Registration of aggregator platforms with the competent authority, (Department of Transport in case of ride-sharing aggregators, Department of Labour in case of non-ridesharing services),
- Establishment of gig and platform workers Welfare fund to provide social security benefits,
- Establishment of gig and platform workers Welfare Board to implement the social security schemes and manage the welfare fund and
Three level grievance redressal mechanism to address the grievances of the gig and platform workers
Figure 5: Framework for Gig Workers Policy
