PNS|Hyderabad
The Telangana government is focused on the growth of the gig economy.
Hyderabad registered the maximum growth in gig workers. City-specific data indicates that the demand for gig work in tier-1 cities saw an overall 33% growth month-on-month and cities like Hyderabad registered a 45% jump in gig workers.
The socio-economic outlook of Telangana states, “As a way forward with the boom in the Gig Economy, the State can continue working towards addressing some of the challenges stated above to provide a platform for the growth of the sector.”
Cities like Hyderabad (45%), Mumbai (45.45%), New Delhi (32%), Bengaluru (25%) and Chennai (23.4%) saw the maximum growth in gig worker numbers, as per the report.
The rise of the likes of Ola, Uber, Swiggy, Zomato, Big Basket and other firms has brought forth this new category of formal workers. A gig economy is a free market system in which temporary positions are common and organizations hire independent workers for short-term assignments.
The term “gig” means a job that lasts only for a specified period and workers include freelancers, independent contractors, project-based workers and temporary or part-time delivery agents.
A senior government official said that there could be about 100 gig platforms engaging gig workers in Telangana.
However, the official said that there is no proposal for a Gig Act or the budget has not looked into it yet. The official said that TASK (Telangana Academy of Skills and Knowledge) is engaged in upskilling workers but the state has not yet drafted a concrete plan.
The Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union (TGPWU) estimates that there are around four lakh gig workers in the state and this number is likely to go up to 15 lahks in 2029-30.
Shaik Salauddin, the Founder and State President of TGPWU said, “A Rajasthan-like legislation, platform and budget for gig workers is a welcome move. The Telangana budget had no mention of gig workers. We demand that the Telangana government should ensure the social and economic security of gig and platform workers. Social security should be based on a levy on every transaction. Strict laws should be made to regulate aggregator companies. A tripartite board should be constituted for gig and platform workers immediately.”
The Rajasthan Government on Friday announced Rs 200 crore, a new law and a board under it for gig welfare in the budget.
The TS economic survey states, “Gig and platform sectors may provide an opportunity for employment. In addition, it may also increase the labour force participation rate (all ages) which is around 41.6% in India and 48.4 % in Telangana as per the PLFS report of 2020-21.”
The key drivers of the Gig sector are flexibility to work from anywhere, changing work approaches and business models, the emergence of a start-up culture, rising demand for contract employees etc.
While there are a wide variety of advantages the socio-economic outlook states, “Although the gig economy produces, there are some downsides impacting labour and the growth of the sub-sectors prompting the gig economy. For example, the gig economy may perpetuate problems like the gender pay gap, biased algorithms affecting communities, gender stereotypes, digital divide, wage disparities and no fixed tenure-led growth etc.”
A report on India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy released by Niti Aayog in June 2022 estimates that in 2020-21, 77 lahks (7.7 million) workers were engaged in the gig economy and the gig workforce is expected to expand to 2.35 crore (23.5 million) by 2029-30. At present, about 47% of gig work is in medium-skilled jobs, about 22% in high skilled and about 31% in low-skilled jobs.
