1st Edition

The Gig Economy in India Start-Ups, Infrastructure and Resistance

By Pradip Ninan Thomas Copyright 2025
    168 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    The Gig Economy in India explores the topic of gig work in India’s digital political economy, and the relationship between key factors such as start-ups, state government, and platform providers.
    The book begins by placing the gig economy in context, defining the platform ecosystem and the Indian government’s perception of its problems and opportunities. Thomas then examines critical dimensions of the gig economy in India, from its data infrastructure capabilities, the enabling role of venture capital and FinTech, to government regulation. Attention is paid to the precarity of gig labour, the vagaries of algorithmic management, and the minimal legal support available for workers. The book also includes chapters on labour resistance and highlights some of the issues related to the ethics of artificial intelligence.
    Given the limited research on India as a case study, this volume fills a crucial gap in the literature. It will interest scholars in diverse fields such as business management, digital media, and communication studies.

    Introduction: The Platform Economy in India
    1. India Stack, Techno-Optimism and Platform Contradictions
    2. The Governance/Mis-Governance of Start-Ups
    3. Venture Capitalism, Informality and the Gig Economy
    4. AI, Machine Learning and Gig Workers in India
    5. Resistance
    6. Cloud, Data Centres and the Politics of Infrastructure
    7. AI, The Gig Economy and Risk

    Biography

    Pradip Ninan Thomas is at the School of Arts and Communications at the University of Queensland, Australia. He is the author of 12 books, including Information Infrastructures in India: The Long View (2022) and Platform Regulation: Exemplars, Approaches and Solutions (2023).