India’s festive shopping season is intensifying demand for temporary and gig workers across sectors like e-commerce, logistics, and retail, with industry forecasts indicating significant growth in hiring and wages, potentially doubling the organised gig workforce by 2030.
India’s festive shopping season is set to keep India’s flexible labour market under strain, with employers across e-commerce, quick commerce, food delivery, logistics and retail preparing for a rise in demand for temporary and gig workers. Adecco India expects hiring for these roles to climb 15% to 20% from a year earlier, taking total seasonal demand to about 2.5 lakh to 2.7 lakh workers, up from roughly 2.16 lakh last year. Reuters, citing staffing firms, has reported that the peak is being driven by consumer activity concentrated around Diwali and the wider festival calendar.
The strongest demand is likely to come from logistics, last-mile delivery and banking, financial services and insurance, where hiring could rise about 30%, according to the industry estimates. Varun Sachdeva of NLB Services said festive hiring is being led by quick commerce, e-commerce and food delivery platforms, while Adecco said around 80% of employers are already reporting talent shortages. Companies are widening recruitment to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, relying more on referrals and pre-qualified candidates and starting planning about 12 weeks in advance.
Wages are also moving higher. Adecco expects temporary pay to increase 10% to 15% year on year, helped by statutory minimum wage revisions and stubborn demand for frontline staff. Employers are trying to hold workers longer with attendance and retention bonuses, productivity-linked incentives and referral payouts. That matters because staffing firms say the gap between demand and supply could still run at 10% to 15% at the height of the season.
The broader gig economy is expanding well beyond the festival peak. Balasubramanian A, senior vice president at TeamLease Services, said India’s organised gig workforce stands at about 1.2 crore and could double to 2.4 crore by 2030. Moneycontrol reported that many employers are now keeping high-performing festive workers on through the wedding season and into the new year, suggesting that seasonal hiring is becoming a more enduring workforce strategy rather than a one-off rush. Sachdeva said the shift is also changing the kind of worker companies want, with greater emphasis on people who can handle delivery apps, warehouse systems and handheld devices.
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