India’s gig economy, which includes 10-minute food delivery and ride-hailing apps, is creating millions of jobs. Yet, women are largely missing from it, according to a new study.
Indian women have achieved near parity with men in access to basic bank accounts, but that progress isn’t carrying over to the digital economy, with women workers underrepresented in jobs at companies such as Uber Technologies Inc., Swiggy Ltd. and Urban Company Ltd., according to report by the International Labour Organization and the National Council of Applied Economic Research. Gaps in digital skills, mobility and safety concerns, and social norms are holding them back, the report released Monday found.
The stakes are significant for an economy that has struggled for decades to bring more women into the workforce. India’s female labor-force participation rate was about 32% in 2025 on an internationally comparable measure, versus almost 78% for men, according to ILO estimates compiled by the World Bank.
The World Bank estimates that raising women’s participation to 50% could add about one percentage point to India’s annual economic growth — potentially bringing it closer to achieving its ambition of becoming a developed economy by 2047.
The number of gig workers in India is predicted to nearly double to 23.5 million by 2029-30, contributing 2.35 trillion rupees ($24.5 billion) to the country’s annual economic output, a government estimate shows.
“Evidence suggests that women remain under-represented and unevenly distributed” across the app-based ecosystem, the researchers said in Monday’s report. Improving that “is a broader social and economic imperative that serves as a catalyst for women’s long-term empowerment and India’s inclusive growth.”
