Rising fuel costs push gig workers towards fixed-pay, EV and warehouse jobs

Rising petrol prices and vehicle operating costs are beginning to reshape India’s gig labour market, with delivery workers increasingly moving towards fixed-pay jobs, electric vehicle-linked roles and sectors such as warehousing, manufacturing, retail and sales where earnings are more predictable.

The available pool of workers for delivery-based gig jobs has contracted by an estimated 5-10 per cent over the past four months, according to staffing firm Adecco India. Recruitment specialists say the decline does not necessarily indicate workers are leaving the labour market; rather, many are switching occupations after calculating whether app-based delivery remains financially viable once fuel, vehicle maintenance and other expenses are deducted.

The trend comes despite continued strong demand for delivery and logistics workers. Job postings across delivery, driving and logistics increased 60 per cent year-on-year during the first quarter of FY27, according to data from employment platform Apna.co. However, jobs offering greater income certainty or lower operating expenses expanded much faster.

EV-related vacancies surge 593%

Electric vehicle-linked job postings jumped 593 per cent year-on-year, while fixed-pay vacancies increased 205 per cent and warehouse jobs grew 91 per cent, Apna data showed.

Workers are also displaying substantially greater interest in these categories. EV-linked vacancies attracted 62.5 per cent more applicants per opening than the broader delivery segment, while fixed-pay positions drew 244 per cent more candidates. Warehouse jobs recorded 350 per cent greater candidate interest.

The figures point to a significant change in how gig workers assess employment opportunities. Instead of concentrating primarily on the maximum earnings advertised by platforms, workers are increasingly looking at the amount they can reliably take home after meeting the costs associated with doing the job.

Average advertised minimum salaries have consequently risen 21.6 per cent from a year earlier to Rs 35,191, while advertised maximum salaries have climbed 34.5 per cent to Rs 59,287, according to Apna.

Petrol price rise squeezes take-home earnings

Fuel has emerged as a particularly important factor because delivery partners generally bear their own petrol expenses.

Petrol prices have increased by around Rs 7.5 a litre since the Iran-US conflict began in February, increasing the cost of completing deliveries and reducing workers' effective earnings. Delivery riders can travel considerable distances during a working day, meaning even relatively modest increases in fuel prices can materially affect monthly take-home income.

Workers had already been raising concerns over the relationship between delivery payouts and their expenses. Delivery riders interviewed earlier this year said they were typically earning around Rs 20-30 per order depending on distance and location, with fuel accounting for a significant part of their daily costs.

The Gig and Platform Services Workers Union staged a strike in May seeking higher payouts and revised incentive structures amid concerns that earnings had not kept pace with rising costs.

Vehicle efficiency has added another consideration. Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari told Parliament last month that ethanol-blended petrol could result in a 2-6 per cent reduction in fuel efficiency depending on the vehicle and its age.

Employers turn to guaranteed pay and EVs

Companies and staffing agencies are responding by experimenting with compensation models that provide workers with greater certainty over earnings.

Recruitment firms say some employers are guaranteeing minimum incomes in selected markets, while others are partnering with EV and CNG fleet operators to reduce the amount workers spend on running their vehicles.

The competition for workers has consequences for companies as well. Hiring costs for gig workers have risen by an estimated 15-20 per cent as employers compete for people increasingly willing to switch jobs in search of better net earnings.

EVs are becoming particularly important to this calculation because their running costs can be substantially lower than petrol-powered two-wheelers. But the transition also exposes another problem: who pays for the vehicle?

More than 56 per cent of EV-tagged vacancies on Apna required applicants to already own an electric vehicle, bicycle or two-wheeler. This suggests that while companies are seeking workers with cheaper mobility options, part of the financial burden of making that transition can remain with workers themselves.

Several major delivery platforms have set longer-term electrification targets, but petrol-powered two-wheelers continue to account for a large share of last-mile deliveries.

Gig economy still expanding

The movement away from some delivery jobs does not mean India's gig economy is contracting overall.

The Economic Survey 2025-26 estimated India's gig workforce at around 1.2 crore in FY25 and projected gig workers could account for 6.7 per cent of the country's workforce by 2030. E-commerce, food delivery, quick commerce and app-based mobility remain important sources of employment.

What appears to be changing is the type of gig employment workers are willing to accept.

The traditional attraction of platform work has been flexibility and the possibility of increasing earnings by completing more orders or working during peak-demand periods. But when workers themselves bear fuel, maintenance and depreciation costs, gross earnings can provide a misleading picture of what they actually make.

Higher petrol prices amplify that difference.

Workers who move to warehouses or fixed-pay logistics positions may sacrifice some flexibility and the possibility of incentive-driven earnings, but gain greater certainty over monthly income and reduce the financial risks associated with operating their own vehicles.

For India's rapidly expanding gig economy, the shift presents a broader challenge. Platforms may continue to generate millions of jobs, but attracting enough workers will increasingly depend not simply on the number of opportunities available but on whether those jobs remain economically sustainable after the worker's costs are taken into account.