Niti Aayog’s Women Entrepreneurship Platform Announces Partnership With Urban Company, But Worker Rights Issues Loom

Indian government’s policy think tank NITI Aayog’s Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) has partnered with Urban Company. The initiative intends to support women salon and beauty parlor owners through a pilot program under its “Award to Reward” initiative, stated the press release. 

The program, focusing on the beauty and wellness sector, will provide 25 women entrepreneurs in Delhi NCR with training in skilling, legal compliance, finance, market access, business development, mentorship, and networking. 

Partnership Announcement Came Hours Before News of Woman Gig Worker’s Death

This partnership announcement coincided with the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers’ Union (TGPWU) announcement of the death of Chandrika Goud, a gig worker at Urban Company.

The union stated that Urban Company had deactivated IDs of gig workers which had led to protests from the workers, including Goud.

“She relentlessly fought for herself and all other workers whose IDs had been deactivated by UC. Constant mental and physical stress led to her hospitalization and untimely demise,” the Union stated on X (formerly Twitter). 

Background

In 2023, workers of Urban Company had been protesting over the issue of frequent ID blockages. The protesting workers claimed that the company had been temporarily or permanently deactivating their IDs for reasons such as booking cancellations, low ratings, or taking leaves. These policy changes caused significant hardships for partners, who demanded the ability to work without facing unjustified penalties, reported Boom Live.

In light of the demise of Chandrika Goud, the union called for basic social security benefits for gig workers, including health insurance, paid sick leave, and compensation for work-related injuries or stress. Shaik Salauddin, founder president of TGPWU and National General Secretary of the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers (IFAT), shared with MediaNama.

MediaNama has reached out to Urban Company for a comment and we will update the article when we receive a response from them.

More about Wep

This new initiative intends to help women scale their businesses and increase success in the industry. WEP has over 30,000 women entrepreneurs engaged and aims to strengthen the women entrepreneurship ecosystem through collaboration with over 20 public and private partners, stated the press release. 

“Supporting women entrepreneurs is vital to achieve women-led development. … Women dominate the beauty and wellness sector, it is critical that they build more profitable enterprises in this sector. Our collaboration with Urban Company is a significant step toward creating a robust ecosystem for women in the beauty and wellness sector, enabling them to create more sustainable businesses,” said Ms. Anna Roy, Principal Economic Adviser, NITI Aayog and Mission Director, WEP.

The WEP is a Government of India-backed initiative launched by the NITI Aayog in 2017. Incubated in NITI Aayog in 2018 as an aggregator platform, it transitioned into a public-private partnership in 2022.

Urban Company’s Past Issues with Women Gig Workers

In June this year, hundreds of women gig workers, mostly from North-East India, protested at Urban Company’s Bengaluru headquarters. They were protesting against the platform’s new “auto pilot mode,” which automatically assigns jobs without worker consent. The Gig and Platform Services Workers Union (GIPSWU) criticized this feature, calling it exploitative and a violation of workers’ autonomy. The new terms removed flexibility, crucial for women balancing work with family or health emergencies. Workers feared arbitrary termination or blocked IDs for missing jobs. This shift raised concerns about worker rights, with GIPSWU calling it a step towards exploitative labor conditions.

Moreover, in July, it was reported that women gig workers in Telangana accused Urban Company of wage theft, illegal terminations, and discriminatory labor practices in a letter to the state labor department. TGPWU claimed that Urban Company reduced wages without consent, citing various fees. Workers also complained about forced payments, arbitrary firings, and algorithmic discrepancies leading to sudden terminations. Additionally, they highlighted issues of harassment, discrimination, and lack of control over working hours. The union demanded better treatment, transparency, and compensation for wage theft, urging collective bargaining with the company to address these concerns.

Concerns 

The new program aims to support only 25 women from Delhi NCR in its pilot phase. While pilot projects often have constrained scopes, this extremely limited number raises questions about the initiative’s ability to address systemic challenges faced by over 100,000 women-led MSMEs identified in the beauty and wellness sector alone. 

The press release does not elaborate on how participants will be chosen. Without this clarity on the selection process, concerns arise about equitable access and whether truly underserved women entrepreneurs will benefit.

TGPWU Comments on the New Collaboration

Speaking to MediaNama, Shaik Salauddin stated, “I commend NITI Aayog’s Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) and Urban Company for their efforts to empower women entrepreneurs in the beauty and wellness sector. Initiatives like this reflect the importance of public-private partnerships in building inclusive ecosystems for entrepreneurial growth.”

However, he urged the initiative to expand its scope beyond Delhi NCR. “Similar support programs are needed in tier-2 and tier-3 cities where women entrepreneurs often face even greater challenges due to limited access to resources,” he said.

“Additionally, it is important that Urban Company address the issue of large-scale ID deactivations of women gig and platform workers who have paid as much as 50,000 rupees to start working on the platform, and now are facing loss of their livelihoods,” he added.

Read More:

• Urban Company’s Women Gig Workers Protest Against Auto Assignment of Jobs
• Telangana: Urban Company Women Workers Write to Labour Department Against Alleged Wage Theft by Company
• Urban Company To Require Employees To Show Aarogya Setu Risk Rating Before Working

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