Vishwas Jain, CXO at Zepto, and Manoranjan Dhal, head, CERLS, IIM-K, lights the ceremonial lamp within the presence of Debashis Chatterjee, Director, IIM-K, and Ernesto Noronha of IIM-Ahmedabad at the third edition of the India Labour Convention at IIM-K.
| Photograph Credit score: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The Indian Institute of Administration-Kozhikode (IIM-K) hosted the third edition of the India Labour Convention, with special focal level on ‘Gig workers in rising India’.
The tournament brought collectively researchers, policymakers, trade union leaders, non-earnings organisations, and trade experts to talk about be decided that work remains ravishing and sustainable in an increasingly extra digital financial system.
Addressing the “invisible” physique of workers in his inaugural address, Debashis Chatterjee, Director of IIM-K, emphasised the have to homicide the “invisible visible,” relating to the thousands and thousands of gig workers who vitality the contemporary financial system however recurrently live on the margins of mainstream dialog. He infamous that while gig workers checklist spherical 4% of India’s physique of workers, 40% of them homicide lower than ₹15,000 month-to-month. Mr. Chatterjee known as for a shift from an “algorithmic orientation” against a social contract rooted in altruism and human dignity.
Manoranjan Dhal, head of the Centre for Employment Family and Labour Study (CERLS), highlighted a stark paradox: while the gig financial system offers flexibility, many workers abilities “dehumanisation” and feel trapped by faceless apps that note every minute however can now not reply to a human plea. Despite these challenges, the financial impact is major, with projections suggesting non-agricultural gig work might per chance maybe also make a contribution ₹2.35 lakh crore to India’s GDP by 2030.
Vishwas Jain, chief abilities officer (CXO) at Zepto, shared his experiences from the frontlines of e-commerce, explaining how the gig mannequin offers the flexibility wished to aid an eye on India’s unpredictable demand spikes and geographical challenges. He infamous that innovations love partnering with native Kirana stores enjoy became mandatory for final-mile shipping.
Ernesto Noronha, professor of Organisational Behaviour at the IIM-Ahmedabad, shifted the level of pastime to crowdwork, a global platform for English-language digital responsibilities, describing it as a “recent global inserting-out system.” He highlighted that India offers one-quarter of the platform labour pressure.
Printed – March 28, 2026 08:46 pm IST
