From streets to screens: How India’s gig economy finds income, and fame, online
Social media has emerged as a parallel income stream, an extension of their primary gig, because it lowers entry barriers and rewards visibility.
For a growing number of gig workers—food delivery riders, cab drivers, newspaper vendors—filming their daily work for social media now brings both extra income and the recognition their day jobs rarely do. But the trade-off is a closed loop, where their day jobs become the identity their content depends on.
One such gig worker is Deepak Saini, a newspaper delivery worker in Haryana. Each morning, Saini delivers papers by motorcycle, tossing folded copies into balconies with practised precision. In the evening, he uploads videos of the same routine to YouTube and Instagram, where his work has drawn more than 77,100 and 117,000 followers, respectively.
Saini, who appeared in reality TV show India’s Got Talent in December, started posting online six months ago. “I have hired four men who deliver newspapers with me. After paying off their salaries, I am left with around ₹15,000 each month, which is the same amount I earn through YouTube. So, with a social media side hustle, my income has doubled," he said.
Like Saini, many gig workers are not turning to social media out of choice alone, but out of necessity, said Aditya Narayan Mishra, managing director and chief executive officer of talent solution firm CIEL HR.
India’s gig economy—employing more than 20 million workers—is marked by volatile incomes, punishing schedules, limited protections and few pathways for growth. According to data collected by CIEL HR, nearly 70% of gig workers earn less than ₹50,000 per month, with 29% earning up to ₹25,000 and 41% earning between ₹25,000 and ₹50,000 per month. Only about 9% earn more than ₹80,000.
“This widening gap between effort and earnings is also why we see growing demands for better pay, stability and protections, something the government has begun addressing through recent labour code reforms," Mishra added.
Notably, delivery workers and unions protested against low pay, punishing delivery timelines and job insecurity in December. However, the strike fizzled out as delivery platforms like Zomato and Swiggy increased incentives, boosting riders' earning potential, especially during peak hours, Mint reported. But the underlying insecurity remains, pushing many workers to seek income beyond the apps they depend on.
While platforms do not formally partner with gig workers who create content, they also rarely restrict such activity unless it raises safety or privacy concerns. Ride-hailing service Rapido, for instance, said many of its captains pursue “interests and supplementary income beyond the platform".
- Low and volatile gig wages are pushing workers to the creator economy
- For many gig workers, online fame is as much about dignity and recognition as it is about money.
- Even when content earnings outpace gig income, creators remain tied to delivery and driving work
- Gig workers monetise daily labour that platforms otherwise undervalue.
“If some captains choose to explore content creation, we respect this as an individual choice, provided safety and professional service to customers remain uncompromised," a company spokesperson said, adding that such creators are not part of Rapido’s formal influencer programmes.
Zomato declined to comment. Swiggy, Uber, Ola and Zepto did not respond to Mint’s queries.
A new identity
With gig work offering little scope for progression or recognition, social media is giving workers something platforms do not: a personal brand that can be monetised through brand deals.
Take Thane-based Aryan Ajay Singh, 20, for whom food delivery began as a peer-recommended way to earn alongside college. In October 2023, he started vlogging his journey as a social media challenge to earn ₹1 lakh in three months.
The experiment worked. Despite being a nano creator with 6,620 YouTube subscribers, Singh now earns the bulk of his income from social media. “There is no comparison between gig and social media income," he said. “In part-time food delivery, one makes ₹500–600 after four hours of physically tiring and stressful work. A video that can be recorded and edited in 1.5 hours has the potential to make ₹5,000–6,000."
Singh’s audience reflects the dual appeal of gig-worker content. Around 60% of his viewers are delivery partners and other gig workers like himself, according to his profile insights, while the rest are urban viewers drawn to emotionally charged first-person accounts of everyday labour.
That reach has translated into brand interest. Singh has promoted the offline discovery and rewards platform Magicpin and is currently in talks with a personal care brand for endorsement. Magicpin did not respond to Mint’s queries.
Gig worker content works because it shows real lives in motion—daily hustle, financial pressure, and small wins that audiences instantly relate to, said Dhruv Khurana, cofounder of influencer marketing platform Astatine.
“Brands collaborate with these creators through simple integrations like using the product during their workday, first-person reviews, voiceovers over real shifts…it feels human, not aspirational," Khurana said.
Locked into the role
For some gig workers, success as a creator brings a new constraint: the more their content earns, the harder it becomes to move on from the work that made them visible in the first place.
Jaipur-based Bhanu Pratap Singh took up food delivery part-time in February 2023 after his café franchise began incurring losses. Once the café shut down, delivery work became his primary source of income.
By September, Singh began vlogging his delivery shifts. The videos gained traction quickly. With more than 34,000 followers on Instagram today, he says he earns nearly 10 times more from content than from delivering food.
Yet, the success has created a dilemma. “It is difficult to switch to a new form of content with the same audience," he said. He is now creating food-related content to eventually move out of gig work altogether.
To be sure, not all gig worker-creators arrive at content creation out of financial pressure. Delhi-based cab driver Angkit Joshi quit a corporate job in September 2023 to drive full-time, recording each ride with passenger consent. Today, he earns double his previous salary, with 60% coming from content.
Unlike workers who stumble into content creation as a hedge against low pay, Joshi treats it as an investment. He has spent on GoPro cameras, microphones and dashcams, and plans to upgrade his car. “With content, the income is not fixed—some months bring one brand deal, others four. But the earning potential is higher, so I invest in making it better," he said.
Sociologists say many are also becoming creators to gain dignity, as gig work is often viewed as low status.
“Many gig workers use social media as a platform to share content about their daily struggles, both to change perceptions and to gain fame that can increase the respect associated with themselves and their profession," said Bibhuti Bhushan Malik, professor of sociology at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University in Lucknow.
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