BigBasket, Dunzo, Other Firms Increase Recruitment Of Delivery Workers Ahead Of Shopping Season Next Month

The move from the online delivery platforms comes amid a tightening job market as India's unemployment rate fell below 7% in July for the first time since January.

Bengaluru: India’s e-commerce companies are adding delivery personnel at a rapid pace, fearing a labour shortage might cause them to lose out in one of the biggest annual shopping seasons that begins in earnest next month. Fearing a labour shortage ahead of the shopping season, several e-commerce companies have started recruitment drive and are adding delivery personnel at a rapid pace. The move from the online delivery platforms comes amid a tightening job market as India’s unemployment rate fell below 7% in July for the first time since January.

“Overall demand for the gig workforce has seen a sharp increase and that is not completely supported by the increase in pool size of delivery people. It is not a free flowing pool,” TK Balakumar, chief operating officer at online grocery seller BigBasket, told news agency Reuters.

Backed by the Tata group conglomerate, BigBasket said it has ramped up the number of delivery partners in its instant delivery segment BB Now to 2,200 in the quarter ended June, from just 500 in the March quarter. The firm further aims to increase the number to about 6,000 by March 2023.

Apart from BigBasket, other e-commerce firms such as Dunzo have their own delivery personnel, however, other firms such as cosmetics-to-fashion retailer Nykaa depend on third parties for providing the service.

NITI Aayog in a recent report said the gig work employment, of which delivery workers and salespersons form a large chunk, is expected to reach 9.9 million in India in 2022-23, up about 45% from 2019-20.

Some of the firms such as Quess and TeamLease act as middlemen between e-commerce firms and job seekers in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in the country. In the meantime, some firms were optimistic the labour crunch situation will get better.

“There’s a constant churn and movement that has existed for 4-5 years. It can cause a temporary crunch but we don’t think it is a long term thing because supply and demand will match,” Kabeer Biswas, chief executive officer at Dunzo, told Reuters.