India’s gig economy is growing fast, but so is the risk of injury on the job. The gig workforce has grown from 7.7 million in 2020-21 to nearly 12 million in 2024-25, according to the Economic Survey 2025-26. It could reach 23.5 million by 2029-30 and 62 million by 2047, according to NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Labour and Employment, respectively. Women now account for around 28 per cent of this workforce, while nearly 40 per cent earn less than Rs 15,000 per month. The sector is expected to contribute about Rs 2.35 lakh crore to GDP by 2029-30.

Behind the numbers lies a workforce compelled to operate in high-risk conditions without adequate safeguards, comprehensive insurance, or institutional accountability. On the night of April 7 in Hyderabad, two young engineering students, Shiva and Sandeep, completed a delivery and began their journey home. They had taken up night shifts to ease their families’ financial burdens. Tragically, a drunk driver rammed into their motorcycle, killing them both. In February, 25-year-old Hem Shakar was killed in Delhi’s Tilak Nagar at 3.30 a.m. when a speeding car struck his e-scooter from behind. For the customers who placed those orders, it may have been just another cancellation notification. They would never know that a delivery worker died trying to fulfil their order. Death may be rare, but injury is not.

A 2023 survey by the University of Pennsylvania and PAIGAM found that most of the gig workers (99.3 per cent) report health issues ranging from back and leg pain to insomnia. Workers also live under the constant threat of algorithmic control: accounts can be deactivated or incentives cut with no explanation. The Code on Social Security, 2020, now being operationalised, recognises gig workers as a distinct class. It requires companies to deposit 1-2 per cent of annual turnover, or up to 5 per cent of the amount payable to workers, into a government welfare fund meant to support life insurance, accident coverage, health and maternity benefits, old-age........

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