Gig Workers And Competition Law In India

1. INTRODUCTION

Following intense debate about the problems faced by gig workers, the Code on Social Security was enacted in the year 2020. At the same time, competition law jurisprudence in India is evolving in a manner where acts of collective bargaining by gig workers may be held anti-competitive.

1. NOT ‘EMPLOYEES' BUT ‘ENTERPRISES'

Strangely, a gig worker may fall within the definition of a business enterprise as per the Competition Act, 2002 (“the Act”). The Act defines an ‘enterprise' and includes any person (natural or legal) who is engaged in “the provision of services, of any kind..”.¹

Such a wide definition can therefore include every gig worker that is not classified as an employee. In other words, while associations of workers engaged in an employer-employee relationship may engage in collective bargaining under the labour laws, the case of gig workers differs, since there are certain limits imposed upon the extent of collective bargaining