Abstract

There is little doubt that we are gradually beginning to have a greater understanding of the gig economy model and its growing influence on work and labour around the world. However, existing discussions on the gig economy continue to paint an interesting Janus-faced picture of the gig economy: one, related to ‘digital dis-intermediation’ or the elimination of traditional third-party brokers and middlemen; and another, that points to ‘social re-intermediation’, or the re-emergence of traditional third-party actors in shaping gig labour’s experiences. In focusing on the complex interplay that exists between dis/re intermediation of labour in India’s gig economy, this chapter explores the role played by the platforms, and informal social actors and community networks, in sustaining gig work and labour in Indian cities. Drawing from a research project exploring the experiences of gig workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in India, the chapter demonstrates how, in the absence of long-term institutional structures of support and solidarity from the platform companies, it is the informal social actors and intermediaries that step in and arbitrate entry, access and distribution of social costs and risk in the gig economy.