As India gears up for the two-month festive season starting early September, leading e-commerce and quick commerce platforms are aggressively ramping up recruitment of gig workers across various roles.
Flipkart on Monday announced plans to expand its workforce by over 2.2 lakh people ahead of the festive rush. These hires will be deployed across warehouses, delivery operations, team leadership, and customer experience functions. Of the total, about 10% will be women, along with specially-abled individuals and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Flipkart said it is scaling employment opportunities, infrastructure, and technology deployment across 28 states.
The announcement comes close on the heels of Amazon, which last week said it would create over 1.5 lakh jobs across its operations network. Amazon plans to hire thousands of women and around 2,000 specially-abled people.
The recruitments are aimed at strengthening last-mile connectivity to ensure timely deliveries across the country during the festive season while also bringing a more diverse workforce into the ecosystem.
Both Flipkart and Amazon are focusing heavily on Tier 2 and 3 cities, where they expect strong festive demand. Flipkart is setting up 650 new delivery hubs in locations such as Siliguri, Kundli, and Jakhar. Around 15% of its new hires will be freshers, who will take up roles as pickers, packers, sorters, and delivery executives. Amazon, apart from metros like Mumbai and Delhi, is expanding in cities including Coimbatore, Indore, Raipur, Jalandhar, Ranchi, Anantnag, and Jalgaon.
Myntra and Swiggy have also confirmed plans to boost hiring, though they have not disclosed numbers. Govind Raj M.K., CHRO at Myntra, said: “To meet the surge in demand and ensure customer satisfaction, we’re boosting our workforce with gig and contractual staff across warehousing, last-mile delivery, and customer support. The strong traction from Tier 2 and 3 markets is heavily influencing our festive preparations.”
Human resources experts say the outlook is positive, with the festive season expected to generate around 4.5 lakh jobs. Temporary staffing in e-commerce and quick commerce is likely to rise by 20–25% compared to last year.
Aditya Narayan Mishra, MD and CEO of CIEL HR, said: “Hiring momentum has picked up across retail, e-commerce, quick commerce, logistics, consumer durables, and BFSI, with employers preparing for a busy festive period. We expect this demand to sustain over the next six months, especially with Tier II and III cities turning into growth hubs.”
Experts also expect festive sales to grow in double digits compared to last year, as discretionary spending returns to the forefront.