This report presents the Fairwork project’s fifth annual study of the work conditions of platform workers on digital labour platforms in India.

This year, the report is structured around the theme of worker alienation. It examines how working conditions—and interactions with platforms, consumers, fellow workers and regulatory agencies—contribute to worker alienation. This alienation is deeply intertwined with the discrimination that platform workers face due to social identities such as caste, class, gender, and religion.

This year, the Fairwork project evaluated 12 platforms in India. The Fairwork India team is led by the Centre for Information Technology and Public Policy (CITAPP) at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB) together with the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford. The team assessed evidence against five Fairwork principles (Fair Pay, Fair Conditions, Fair Contracts, Fair Management, Fair Representation) drawing on desk research, worker interviews conducted in Bengaluru, Delhi, Kochi, and Thiruvananthapuram, and evidence provided by platforms.