The Ground Reality For The Gig Workers Powering India’s Instant Help Boom

As the festive season approaches, women in colorful uniforms serving as gig workers for companies like Urban Company, Snabbit and Pronto are becoming a common sight in upscale neighborhoods across Bengaluru. These women, often stationed outside the communities they frequently visit, spend hours waiting for orders or rides back home. In adverse weather conditions, they lack shelter and have limited options for safety, such as sitting on the back of a motorbike or waiting at a nearby bus stop.

Jhanki Devi, a worker with Urban Company's InstaHelp vertical, explains that earnings only come when an order is placed and when someone books the service, it is assigned to the nearest professional or someone who can reach the customer within 10 minutes. On good days, she completes around 4-5 hours of household work within a single gated community, but most days, this is not enough to meet her app commitments. If she cannot find the right bus, she must book an auto or a bike taxi using Namma Yatri, Uber or Rapido.

While gig workers are ubiquitous in dense residential neighborhoods of Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi NCR, their plight has received little attention. As the industry expands and becomes more profitable, the focus now is on maximizing revenue. Order volumes reached record highs in August, with a nearly 6x rise in consolidated order volumes since October 2025.

The upcoming festive season will further fuel this growth, but the challenge lies in maximizing revenue while keeping gig workers satisfied with earnings, social security benefits and working conditions.

Urban Company's tier-based payouts have shifted from a guaranteed minimum monthly income to a system based on diamond, gold and silver tiers, determined by customer ratings and hours logged. Similarly, Pronto has seen significant growth, expanding its city presence and serving over 1.5 million bookings in August alone. Snabbit has also raised substantial funds, but the question remains: will this growth be sustainable, or will the startups turn profitable?