When Anjali Verma accepted a home service assignment through Urban Company in South Delhi, she expected to perform a routine beauty treatment. Instead, the customer locked the door and propositioned her. When she reported the incident, the platform's response was to suspend her account - not the customer's.
Verma's experience is not isolated. A Print investigation reveals that women working for app-based platforms like Urban Company, Snabbit, and similar services face routine sexual harassment, often with minimal support from the companies profiting from their labor.
The Dark Side of the Gig Boom
India's gig economy employs an estimated 7.7 million workers and is projected to grow to 23.5 million by 2030, according to NITI Aayog, the government's policy think tank. Women represent a growing share of this workforce, drawn by promises of flexible hours and decent earnings.
But the platforms' rapid expansion has outpaced safety infrastructure. Women service providers report being groped, propositioned, and in some cases assaulted while performing in-home services. When they complain, many say companies prioritize customer retention over worker protection.
A billion people aren't a statistic - they're a billion stories. For women like Verma, the gig economy promised independence. Instead, it delivered vulnerability.
Priyanka Menon, who worked for Snabbit in Bengaluru, described being molested by a customer who answered the door in a towel. "I immediately left and reported it to the app," she said. "They asked if I had any proof. When I said no, they told me to be more careful next time. The customer's account stayed active."
Company Responses Fall Short
Urban Company, one of India's largest home services platforms, claims to have safety features including customer verification and an SOS button. But workers interviewed by The Print said the measures are inadequate.
