Qcom alone is expected to account for a 60 per cent surge in gig hiring, adding 1.5 million to 2 million roles.
An early festival season, coupled with rising demand from quick commerce (qcom), ecommerce (ecom), and third-party logistics players, is expected to trigger a fresh wave of gig hiring in 2025-2026 (FY26).
The number of gig workers is projected to rise 19.1 per cent -- from nearly 10 million in FY25 to 11.91 million this year -- according to data from TeamLease Services.
Qcom alone is expected to account for a 60 per cent surge in gig hiring, adding 1.5 million to 2 million roles, said Kartik Narayan, CEO of staffing at TeamLease.
Logistics roles linked to ecom, which currently make up 35 to 40 per cent of all gig jobs, are also expected to expand steadily.
In traditional gig sectors such as logistics and delivery, hiring is witnessing growth.
In FY21, logistics and delivery comprised 35 per cent of overall gig workers, and in FY26, it is expected to go up to 41.4 per cent of total workers.
Alan Barboza, executive director at third-party logistics company Flomic Global Logistics, said: "Last-mile riders and bikers will surge by about 25 per cent as 10-minute grocery expands beyond metros."
"In warehouses, pickers and packers are seeing 15 to 18 per cent growth due to SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) expansion while sortation staff demand is up by around 12 per cent."
Logistics already employs roughly one in every seven gig workers in India, and rising SME exports will likely push demand for light-truck owner-drivers up by 20 per cent, he added.
Logistics provider Delhivery has recorded double-digit year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in its active gig workforce, particularly in last-mile delivery and first-mile pickup.
"We anticipate a continued upward trend in the engagement of gig partners. Our strategic focus on expanding to new geographies and deepening our service offerings will require a larger flexible workforce," said Prashant Gazipur, senior vice-president at Delhivery.
Tender Truck, which works with small fleet owners, targets to onboard over 7,500 fleet owners by FY26-end. In FY24, the company had just over 600 active fleet owners.
The firm is also scaling its tech infrastructure to accommodate the rise in demand.
Vidhant Monga, founder and CEO of Tender Truck, said the company expects to see heightened operations in some geographies during the festive season.
"We expect to see rampups in Delhi-NCR, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Bhiwandi, and parts of Central India," Monga pointed out.
"While load demand will increase, the bottleneck will remain on the supply side -- finding compliant trucks with reliable drivers," he said.
The hiring push extends beyond ground logistics.
SkyeAir, a logistics firm that does deliveries via drones, said in the past 12 months, it deployed more than 200 gig workers, and plans to onboard approximately 1,000 (walkers) in FY26.
The firm employs 'Skye Walkers, who deliver packages to the doorstep after they have been dropped at the nearest common point by the drones.
"We anticipate substantial volume growth -- projected at four times compared to FY25 levels.
"The strongest growth is expected in the walker segment," said Ankit Kumar, founder and CEO of the firm.
The upcoming festive season -- starting as early as August -- is also contributing to the hiring rush.
Narayan of TeamLease said the festive season is projected to drive a 20 to 30 per cent spike in gig demand, driven by heightened consumer spending and peak order volumes.
Ecom platform Flipkart said it plans to significantly hire people across functions in the supply chain.
"As we approach the festive season, we proactively scale up hiring across our supply chain network to meet the anticipated surge in demand," said Aakriti Chandra, vice-president of reward, performance, and corporate functions at Flipkart.
"These seasonal roles at our fulfilment centres, sortation hubs, and delivery facilities not only support operational readiness but also generate meaningful employment opportunities nationwide, especially in Tier-II and Tier-III cities," Chandra added.
While the demand for gig workers is on the rise, their income levels remain somewhat stagnant.
The TeamLease data shows that as of 2025, nearly 99 per cent of gig workers earn under Rs 5 lakh per annum, with about 77.6 per cent making Rs 2.5 lakh or less annually, and just 2.6 per cent earning between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 7.5 lakh.
The average monthly income for gig workers is around Rs 18,000, the data shows.
The income for workers in delivery roles has not seen significant real-term increases, as per-order payouts have actually declined from Rs 35 to as low as Rs 10 to Rs 15 in recent years, Narayan said.
Overall, the count of gig workers has ballooned each year from 7.7 million in FY21.
According to NITI Aayog, gig jobs are estimated to reach 23.5 million by FY30.
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff
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