On the fair conditions front, Amazon Flex, Bigbasket, BluSmart, Flipkart, Swiggy, Urban Company, Uber, Zepto and Zomato were awarded the first point for providing adequate safety equipment and periodic safety training to their workers. The only companies to receive a second point were Bigbasket, Swiggy, Urban Company, Zepto, and Zomato. These companies gave their employees free accident insurance, paid for lost wages when they couldn't work due to illnesses other than accidents, and made sure their status didn't suffer when they returned from a break after informing the platform in advance.

Among the 12 platforms, seven of them (BigBasket, BluSmart, Dunzo, Swiggy, Urban Company, Zepto, and Zomato) ensure the accessibility and comprehensibility of their contracts.

The fair management principle, which guarantees due process in decisions impacting employees, was observed in Amazon Flex, BigBasket, BluSmart, Flipkart, Swiggy, and Zomato. Meanwhile, BluSmart and Swiggy implemented policies prohibiting the discrimination of platform workers and institutionalised the implementation of routine, external audits to look for biases in their work allocation methods.

All 12 platforms chalked up zero in fair representation. "There was insufficient evidence from any platform that showed a willingness to recognise a collective body of workers," reveals the report.

“In a year that has seen the formulation of a significant regulation based on inputs from workers, [The Rajasthan Platform Based Gig workers (Registration and Welfare) Act, 2023], we hope that highlighting the experiences of workers will point to the structural changes that platforms, consumers and the State alike will need to undertake if the platform economy is to offer its workers decent work,” say Professors Balaji Parthasarathy and Janaki Srinivasan, the Principal Investigators of the team, along with researchers Mounika Neerukonda, Bilahari M, Aditya Singh, Raktima Kalita and Meghashree Balaraj.

Recently, Rajasthan passed a law that levies a 2% tax on earnings made by digital platforms that operate in the state The move, orchestrated by the Indian National Congress party, would be the first in the country and the tax would aid an estimated two million platform-based gig workers in the state with them receiving social security and welfare benefits.

Labour Standards

Ola, Porter, Uber, Dunzo score poorly on fairness ratings by Gig workers; BigBasket highest