



Food delivery sees 27% rise in employment, but experts flag a hidden malaise
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: India's food delivery sector directly employed 1.37 million workers in 2023-24, up from 1.08 million in 2021-22, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.3%, according to a recent study by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), and investment group Prosus. It thus comfortably outpaced India’s overall employment growth rate of 7.9% over the same period.
However, gig workers' representatives and policy experts said these numbers actually hide job distress across the gig economy, where food delivery workers continue to work for up to 12–14 hours a day for abysmally low incomes. They said the fact the more people were engaging was in fact a consequent of rising unemployment. Despite accounting for just 0.2% of India’s total workforce,food delivery has emerged as one of the fastest-growing sources of gig work in the services economy.
The sector is dominated by Swiggy and Zomato. These food delivery platforms have become an important source of income for gig workers, particularly urban and semi-urban ones seeking flexible employment, said the report, which studied the impact of the food delivery sector on gig workers and restaurants. Prosus is an investor in Swiggy.
The study estimated the gross value of output (GVO) of the food delivery sector at ₹1.2 trillion in 2023-24, more than doubling from ₹613 billion in 2021-22. Gross value added (GVA) was estimated at ₹476 billion, equivalent to 0.2% of national GVA. NCAER used data from July 2023 to June 2024 for the study.
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