India’s gig economy is estimated to show three-fold growth in the next four years and produce over 90 million gig workers by the year 2031. A few of the perks/benefits that attracts employees to gig working is the freedom, flexibility, and autonomy that gig working offers. More employees are choosing gig working as a career option, from delivery executives to freelance consultants. In an exclusive conversation with CXOToday, Prashant Janadri, Co-founder, Taskmo, discusses on the relevance of a gig marketplace and how the gig economy has introduced a newest trend to employment which is expected to expand further by 2029-30.
- Could you please share an overview on how Taskmo visualized creating an exclusive platform for all gig job opportunities?
The sole mission behind the inception of Taskmo was to create gig jobs accessible to everyone across India. We founded Taskmo as a ‘tech-driven on-demand task fulfilment platform’ that helps large businesses, corporations, personal brands, and even start-ups by employing gig workers to perform various tasks.
Taskmo uses AI-driven technology to find gig jobs online, aiming to solve business queries. We wanted to make sure that the platform was designed to serve next-generation internet users, providing instant access to nearby tasks (work) and opportunities.
Our research and analysis made us realise that micro-tasking is becoming increasingly important for companies to survive in the market. Businesses can improve their operations with Taskmo’s robust analytical technology.
- What are the challenges the gig economy faced amidst the pandemic and what does the industry look forward to?
During the start of COVID-19 when the lockdowns were imposed and all the businesses had to go on halt or cut down their resources, many gig workers had to quit their gig jobs due to a decrease in demand and supply, as well as their own safety concerns.
But eventually the gig economy expanded exponentially as there was a surge across India for workers who could deliver the necessities to the customers’ doorsteps. This led to everyone embracing the benefits of the gig economy and opening more gig opportunities. One of the biggest benefits of the gig economy is the flexibility it offers in terms of working hours and the types of jobs that workers can take on.
In the future, the gig industry has phenomenal growth opportunities. According to a NITI Ayog report, 77 lakh workers were engaged in the gig economy in the year 2020-21 and the gig workforce is expected to expand to 2.35 crore by 2029-30.
With this massive growth opportunity, the whole gig industry is now looking forward to social security for gig workers. Social protection approaches are being looked into by companies, government, and gig discovery platforms. Security against occupational disease and work accident Insurance, retirement/pension plans, measures for paid sick leave, health access, Insurance, and contingency cover out of a corpus fund are the few important protections which are on the move for gig workers.
- How are gig discovery platforms helping in the growth of the gig economy? How can platforms preserve and address the rights of the gig workers?
Gig discovery platform is a digital platform that bridges the workers to the companies for their services. We at Taskmo help our taskers to get digitally trained and upskill themselves to survive the competitive marketplace. A gig marketplace provides easy access to gig jobs and provides additional income opportunity for workers.
Gig platforms are also working towards the social security and rights of gig workers like providing assured and instant payment, insurance facilities, etc. Taskmo is working greatly towards these initiatives as we offer an outcome-based payment method which is a quick payment method that relies on financial systems that are accessible throughout the day. We also provide insurance facilities to our gig workers by partnering with insurtech startup Riskcovry. We partnered with such a platform to offer accidental insurance on a switch on/off usage-based coverage, which is done using digital infrastructure to embed insurance.
- How has technology helped in building a huge and strong array of gig job opportunities? Please elaborate on the business model of Taskmo.
The advanced technology, especially artificial intelligence, and data analytics have reduced the distance between jobs and the potential workers. With the help of technology, taskers (gig workers), can work independently from their location through their phones.
Taskmo is an AI-driven tech centric platform that aims at resolving business queries by providing gig works online. Taskmo’s robust analytical technology helps businesses improve their operations. The tech stack allows real-time visibility into each task, optimizes processes, improves efficiency, and keeps customers engaged by collecting insights about your tasks, performance, and customer journey.
The innovative business model and algorithm facilitates the integration of tasks. Our taskers are up-skilled digitally through vernacular training and are tailored to the company’s requirements. The API integration allows curation of tasks as per the requirement, providing the business an upper hand over other players.
- How many companies do Taskmo currently work with and what is the number of gig workers registered on the platform?
Till now, we have worked with over 250+ brands. A few of them include Amazon, Flipkart, Jio, Tata Group, Wipro, Meesho, Biju’s, Ola, Rapido, Swiggy, and Zomato. We have over 75,000+ nationwide gig community with a 10,000+ pin code presence.
- What are your company’s expansion plans for FY23? What proportion of revenue do you hope to achieve by the following fiscal year
Taskmo is looking to scale INR 100 CR ARR (Annual recurring revenue) business, acquiring 500+ brands & facilitating 1 Million+ gig workers with digital & hyper local tasks in FY23. We are looking to raise series-B funds to scale business four-fold.
We also want to expand Taskmo to Tier-2 & Tier-3 cities and simultaneously explore business opportunities in the global market. At the same time, we aim to provide more and more gig job opportunities to the youth in order to reduce the unemployment rate. Team expansion is also one of our primary goals for FY23.
