Research Experience

Research background and ongoing projects.

Timeline

  • July 2019 to July 2021: Junior Research Fellow, Jawaharlal Nehru University
  • July 2021 to June 2025: Senior Research Fellow, Jawaharlal Nehru University
  • November 2025 to present: Research Associate, Christ (Deemed to be University), Delhi NCR

PhD Thesis

Title: Digital Platforms and Food Delivery Systems in India: A Study of Zomato Workers in Delhi

Institution: Centre for Informal Sector and Labour Studies (CISLS), Jawaharlal Nehru University

Status: Awarded (2025)

Supervisor: Prof. Archana Prasad

Field Research: In-depth interviews with Zomato delivery workers (Dec 2023 - Nov 2024, South & South-West Delhi), union leader consultations (AKEU, IFAT, TGPWU, AIGWU), WhatsApp ethnography of worker organizing groups

Main Research Themes

  • Platform capitalism and algorithmic management
  • Labour process theory and digital work
  • Gig worker resistance and unionization
  • Platform alternatives and community-governed marketplaces
  • AI, automation, and the future of work
  • Informality, precarity, and the Global South

Current Project Areas

  • ICCSR-funded project: Sustainability of digital jobs and youth livelihoods in the gig-platform economy (Uttar Pradesh)
  • Ongoing research: Community-based digital marketplaces and informal alternatives to platform intermediation, with a case focus on online fragrance communities in India

Research Agenda

1. Platform Labour & Algorithmic Management

Empirical research on how platforms control, extract value from, and precariize workers in India—with a focus on food delivery, ride-hailing, and quick commerce.

2. Political Economy of Digital Platforms

Theoretical work on platform capitalism, market power, extraction mechanisms, and the structural transformation of labour markets in the Global South.

3. Worker Resistance & Platform Alternatives

Research on collective action, unionization, and community-governed digital marketplaces as alternatives to extractive corporate platforms.

4. AI, Automation & the Future of Work

Emerging research on how AI agents, generative AI, and algorithmic automation will reshape platform labour, digital work, and employment in India.

Research Vision

Advancing platform studies as a field—bridging labour scholarship, technology analysis, and policy research on platforms, AI, and digital economies in India and the Global South.

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