Dominated By Millennials, Gig Economy Sees Surge In Tier-2,3 Cities

The gig economy in India has become the latest trend for industries. The post-pandemic time has seen a massive surge in the increase of gig workers across the country. As India aims to achieve a $5 trillion economy, the gig economy can significantly contribute. Especially in tier-two and three cities of India, the gig workers are considerably increasing as the industries are expanding their territory to leave a footprint across the country.

The features of the gig economy, including flexible work hours, efficiency, and time management, make it more popular among millennials. In 2021, a report by the Boston Consultancy Group revealed that India has the potential to serve up to 90 million jobs in the non-farm sector along with contributing 1.25 per cent to India'sIndia's total GDP. The prominent startups in India, including Flipkart, Swiggy, and Byju's, have become significant drivers of the gig economy.

The startups are hiring unskilled and skilled gig workers to reduce their company's costs and increase work effectiveness. As per the Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) report, nearly 75 per cent of multi-national companies functioning in India have 10 per cent of gig workers out of total employees. The numbers are only expected to rise shortly. The sectors expected to see a magnificent surge are manufacturing, technology, FMCG-Pharma, banking, and financial services.

Why Gig Workers?

Companies across sectors are hiring gig workers because vetting candidates takes a lot of time, energy, and money. Whereas, companies with the help of the gig economy, can hire workers according to the task and can pay them after the completion and satisfaction from the task. The gig economy is also saving the overhead cost of businesses.

Gig Workers in E-Commerce

The rise in demand for gig workers among the e-commerce brands like Zepto, Blinkit, Groffers, Zomato, and Danzo. Taskmo, a company that provides gig workers to businesses, claims that hiring by e-commerce companies for delivery executives increased 400 per cent in the last quarter. In the previous three months, more than one lakh Taskmo taskers were on-demand for delivery executives in grocery, food, medicines, apparel, and fashion segments. Not only Tier I locations like Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi, but even Tier II and Tier III regions, including Indore, Bhopal, Shivmogga, Hubballi, and Vadodara, have seen a 20% and 13% surge in the hiring of gig workers in the sector of Healthtech, Fintech, E-commerce, FMCG, etc.

"The internet has penetrated most millennials and gen-z, and gig jobs are the hot picks for companies and the new generation. Hence enterprises prefer to be lean and outsource the task to gig workers, a common trend in the industry. Every e-commerce company is looking at engaging more delivery partners, including women and transgender participants," said Prashant Janadri, Co-Founder of Taskmo.

Many similar companies are training gig workers with appropriate skills to execute the task effectively. The company official added, "Taskmo is addressing one of the world's largest gig economy markets, and Taskmo has completed many tasks with the help of nearly 7 lakh gig workers. The companies which show interest in hiring gig workers range from Fortune 500, Amazon, Flipkart, Tata groups, Reliance, Paytm, Byjus, Uber, Ola, Swiggy, Zomato, SBI, Airtel, ITC, Bharatpe, Phonepe, BigBasket and many more.

Gig Economy in Tier-2,3 Cities

Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities have noted improved demand for Gig workers since companies are expanding their geographical footprint beyond metros by setting up secondary offices in smaller towns. Recruiters are also going the extra mile to attract workers from smaller cities through a tech-driven approach, providing multi-language support, job tracking and monitoring solutions, and ease of payment. Moreover, location is no longer a deal-breaker as many jobs today can be done remotely.

Commenting on the growing demand for gig jobs, Prashant Janadri added, "Gig is the newest trend in the employment market, and today we see its expansion across every industry in the country. Over the last two years, rapid tech advancements followed by the introduction of flexible work models have created an evolution of the gig economy at large. Now we see every other company promoting the gigification of traditional job roles. Furthermore, we have seen that emerging segment in Gig is largely dominated by Millennials and Gen Z today."

Also Read: I2U2 Summit: India, US, Israel, And UAE Forms Group; Food Security And Maritime On Focus