Gig worker wages spike 40% tracking demand for such jobs this Diwali season

Hiring delivery agents, drivers and warehouse staff between August and November, which coincides with Durga Puja and Diwali, has been a challenge for e-commerce companies every year. But the pain is much more pronounced this year due to the aggressive expansion of flash trading platforms and business pressures that are keeping workers away.

Recruitment experts estimate that the demand for such workers has increased by 30-50 percent compared to last year’s festival months, and the wages of gig workers this season have also increased by 40 percent compared to a few weeks ago. Workers performing tasks such as home delivery or porterage services, ₹45,000 to ₹50,000 a month, according to people at recruiting and logistics companies.

Companies hiring gig workers have also increased incentives by 15-20%; distribution agents received bonuses, attendance rewards and higher fees per delivery. “Some also offer fast payouts and retention bonuses to reduce attrition,” Neeti Sharma, CEO of TeamLease Digital, part of the TeamLease group of companies, told Mint.

Average salaries until mid-2025 ₹$28,000 a month, says Gautam Kapoor, COO and co-founder of e-commerce provider Shiprocket. But “last month, on Navratri, platforms introduced aggressive incentive offers, including additional payments of up to 20% on daily earnings. Some platforms also offer daily incentives for completing a fixed number of orders,” he said.

There are more than 12 million gig workers in India by fiscal 2025, accounting for around 2% of the workforce. According to TeamLease’s estimates, this number is expected to rise to 23.5 million by 2029-30.

Fast trading hit

The main reason for the imbalance in labor demand this year is the expansion of express trade business, which promises deliveries in 10-15 minutes. total of goods ₹64,000 crore realized by flash trading platforms in FY25; This figure has more than doubled. ₹30,000 crore in the previous financial year, according to a report by Care Edge Advisory in July.

India’s fast-paced commerce sector has surpassed $10 billion in sales measured by gross merchandise value (GMV, or total value of goods sold), with 30 million monthly transacting users and a 15% share of total e-commerce GMV, according to consultancy Redseer.

The growth rate promises to be rapid this festive season. According to estimates from e-commerce enablement platform Unicommerce, e-commerce order volumes, including flash commerce, during Raksha Bandhan in the first week of August this year increased by 24% compared to the same period last year. Unicommerce added that GMV increased by 27%, with tier-2 cities like Jaipur, Coimbatore and Nagpur reporting the highest order volume growth this year.

According to industry estimates, sales are expected to increase by another 6-10% during the remainder of the ongoing festival season.

The labor shortage in 2025 represents a structural change, not just a cyclical challenge, Kapoor said. “Metro markets such as NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Chennai are currently experiencing 25-30% vacancy rates in delivery fleets. Infrastructure expansion has significantly outpaced sustainable workforce development.”

This, Kapoor added, was despite a dramatic “squeeze” in the number of delivery agents needed per dark store, the so-called small warehouses of fast-track trading companies. “The ratio of delivery partners to dark stores is compressed to approximately 3:1 in 2025, which is significantly lower than in previous years when the ratio was healthier. Each dark store typically needs 90-140 delivery partners to operate efficiently, so this compression creates significant operational strain,” he said, explaining the structural shift.

Additionally, blue-collar workers are finding alternative employment in sectors with increased mobility, such as infrastructure and real estate. Many workers cite safety concerns and long hours in fleet and road services as factors keeping them away from gig jobs, one industry executive said.

Sujay Pidara, founder of blue-collar job search platform MyJobee, says delivery workers handle 60% to 80% more orders per day during festive weeks than during normal periods. “Due to longer shifts, road safety risks and the temporary nature of festive recruitment, many workers are turning to construction and real estate jobs in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, where employment is more stable and locally accessible.”

small town focus

The other factor behind the labor shortage is actually cyclical: workers returning to their homes in India’s interior for Diwali. “It is turning into a very busy season. The impact of festivals has also increased, leading to many workers leaving for their villages or looking for other roles,” said Madhav Krishna, founder and CEO of blue-collar recruitment platform Vahan.ai.

To fill the labor demand gap, companies are trying to recruit from tier 2 and 3 cities and towns and shifting them to larger cities where demand is high. “This is a time-consuming process and most executives may not want to leave their hometown for a short period of time,” said TeamLease’s Sharma.

Staffing company Quess Corp noticed another trend this year: a challenge from two-wheeler or bicycle taxi services like Rapido or Uber. Lohit Bhatia, head of workforce management at Quess, said many gig workers prefer to pick up and drop off customers rather than going to restaurants or stores, then picking up packages, driving to the drop-off point and waiting again until the package is accepted, and then returning to the next restaurant or warehouse.

A Rapido spokesperson said the platform incentivizes riders, who mostly work part-time, with wage guarantees and time slots where they can earn more. “We run guaranteed earnings windows which make it easier for captains (riders) to schedule a few extra shifts,” the spokesman said.