Abstract

The rise of digital labour platforms and the gig economy between 2018 and 2025 has profoundly reshaped the world of work in India. Platforms such as Ola Uber Zomato Swiggy Urban Company Amazon Mechanical Turk and a range of freelancing portals have created new opportunities for flexible employment income diversification and entrepreneurship. These platforms transformed the nature of labour relations offering workers the ability to access jobs on-demand through apps and digital marketplaces. At the same time the gig economy raised serious questions about job security labour rights income instability and social protection. This paper examines the expansion of digital labour platforms in Indian society during this period focusing on their social economic and cultural implications. It argues that while the gig economy has provided employment to millions particularly youth and women it has also deepened precarity blurred employer–employee boundaries and created challenges for regulation. By