Life on the Platform: Regulation, Algorithmic Control, And the Human Costs of India’s Gig Economy

Abstract

India’s gig economy has expanded rapidly, providing an entry into city jobs, but also shifting the risks of running a business onto workers. This article qualitatively analyses the structural precarity of platform labour in India from a socio-legal perspective using secondary data from policy documents, legislative texts, and published empirical studies. It goes beyond abstract notions of flexibility to consider the tangible human costs of digital labour such as operating costs borne by the labour, job and income insecurity, uncertain working hours, occupational safety and health risks, and digital surveillance and algorithmic control. The paper discusses how algorithmic management implements control via task allocation, pricing, real-time monitoring, customer ratings, incentives, and account deactivation. It also maps the trajectory of India’s regulatory environment by comparing the national Code on Social Security (2020) with state legislation in Rajasthan and Karnataka. The article distinguishes between formal legal recognition (de jure) and how these protections are implemented, enforced, and accessed by workers in practice (de facto). The article also proposes a few recommendations addressing the underlying human costs. It concludes by noting that the future of platform economy will depend on whether policy regulations can do more than just recognise the problems faced by workers or not.