A gig within a gig: A comparative study of intermediation and market creation in ride hailing and home services platforms in India

Dominant accounts of the platform economy portray digital labour platforms as disintermediating labour markets by directly connecting workers and customers, thereby removing traditional intermediaries. In theory, this reduces the need and reliance on third parties or brokers, enabling more direct matching of supply and demand while lowering transaction costs. However, in emerging economies characterised by abundant labour and persistent informality, we see a deviation from this broad socio-technical vision of the platform model. While to an extent, platforms do enable individuals to directly transact and exchange services, goods and knowledge, there is also evidence of a re-emergence of social intermediation in gig work in India, whereby digital platforms simultaneously bypass traditional brokers and middlemen while giving rise to new forms of social and economic intermediaries.

We place this under empirical scrutiny through immersive qualitative and exploratory research with gig workers, intermediaries, non-owner drivers, and platform trained entrepreneurs in Mumbai, India. Two sectors – ride hailing and home services sectors are studied comparatively to highlight that the nature of exchange is varied, and dependent on local realities. The paper builds on 32 interviews and narratives with gig workers including drivers, beauty workers, cleaners, plumbers and electricians who have experienced some form of intermediation in the gig economy. Theoretically, this paper situates platforms within processes of market change and emergence, highlighting how digital platforms simultaneously leverage and reshape informal market institutions to facilitate and control labour flows. 

Findings indicate that platform economy reproduce both economic and social re-intermediation: various actors continue to play a critical role in shaping labour outcomes including the income, social costs and risks. These dynamics result in diverse livelihood structures within the informal sector and illustrate that platform economies function through cyclical processes of disintermediation and re-intermediation, contingent on local social and economic conditions.

The findings reveal four interrelated dynamics: First, platforms enable partial disintermediation by lowering entry barriers and expanding access to paid work. Second, social re-intermediation emerges as local actors such as vehicle owners, financial brokers and other informal coordinators reinsert themselves into the platform economy. Third, in home services, disintermediation manifests differently, as workers circumvent the platform entirely to transact directly with clients, negotiating terms and sustaining off-platform relationships. Finally, there is evidence of re-intermediation beyond the platform itself, with some workers using experience gained through the platform to create independent enterprises in areas where the platform has no presence, illustrating how platform-mediated work can generate new forms of local market organization and agency. 

Together, these findings challenge the assumption that platform work is organized through a direct worker–platform–client relationship. Instead, multiple and overlapping forms of intermediation shape workers' access to income and control over labour. By foregrounding workers' practices, this paper offers a grounded account of how platform economies are reconfigured in contexts of informality, contributing to debates on labour intermediation, market emergence, and worker agency.