The southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu will provide a subsidy of Rs. 20,000 gig workers will choose to buy electric scooters as more young people sign up for food and grocery delivery services on online platforms, a minister said on Friday.
Gig workers, or people outside the traditional employer-employee relationship, will play a key role in the world’s fifth-largest economy, in part because the COVID-19 pandemic has dampened growth in the industry and led to high unemployment.
Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Thangam Thearasu said while unveiling the budget that the state has also launched an insurance scheme for nearly 150,000 gig workers to compensate for accidental death and disability.
“A new scheme will be launched… to provide a subsidy of Rs 20,000 each to 2,000 Internet service workers to buy a new electric scooter,” the minister said, adding that workers registered with the state welfare agency will be eligible for the subsidy.
Labor Minister Veera Raghava Rao told Reuters that more details of the plan would be announced later.
Prices of e-scooter maker Ola’s products start from Rs. 79,999, while the rival Ather is priced at Rs 79,999. 99,999.
The state will also set up rest rooms for such workers in major cities, such as the capital Chennai, where summer temperatures often exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), and textile hub Coimbatore.
KC Gopikumar, president of the Tamil Nadu Food and Allied Products Distribution Workers Union, welcomed the subsidy and welfare measures but urged the government to extend these to more workers and provide them with better conditions such as paid leave.
Swiggy and Zomato, India’s two largest delivery providers, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
© Thomson Reuters 2025
