Young Edge | ‘There will be no jobs in the future anyway’: inside Pune students’ turn to gig economy

Avinash and Ishaan( names changed), both 18, joined Blinkit as delivery partners at the beginning of 2026. Both are pursuing a Bachelor of Business Administration in Computer Applications (Honours) degree at a college in the Bund Garden area and started working to cover their monthly expenses. They pull regular shifts after college hours. When asked about their experience with classroom learning, the two quickly exchange a glance and offer a sneering smile in response.

Many like them initially joined to sustain themselves financially. Nitin Parihar(name changed), 26, was enrolled in an MCom degree at a popular college in the Deccan area when he first started working part-time with Uber around the time of the Covid pandemic. He completely shifted to delivery work with Swiggy Instamart after completing college, as Covid clouded any conviction of campus placements.

Circling back to Covid while discussing similar cases among his friends, he pauses, then expresses his disappointment with education, “It is better to find a college and put up a stall in front of it, at least you will earn money.”

Many others, like Parth Jadhav(name changed), 18, had joined the workforce while underage. Parth has been delivering food for two years after taking a gap year following his Class 12 studies at a city-based junior college. He says he will apply for a BBA degree this year.

Others, like Siddharth Sawant(name changed), have lost interest in returning to college. Siddharth, 20, has been working as a Swiggy Instamart delivery partner for one and a half years while managing his food stall nearby. He landed here after switching between a few part-time jobs after his Class 12. He says that studying till Class 10 was fine, after which he couldn’t understand much and lost interest. He now looks forward to starting something of his own. “Ab interest hi nahi hai, ab kuch khud ka karna hai (There is no interest anymore; now I need to do something for myself).”

So is the case with Gagan Yadav(name changed), 25, who graduated in political science from his hometown in Madhya Pradesh and took a job as a security guard at a Swiggy Instamart store in Pune. He has now transitioned and works as a gig worker. He prefers not to dwell on his degree.

“What is the point of studying? What will I get out of it? You don’t get money by studying,” he comments. He plans to return to his hometown to take up farming in the near future.

Not all of them happy about gig work

Nimesh Gade (name changed), 19, also enrolled at the commerce college in Deccan, has been working as an Instamart delivery partner for a year now, following his father and uncle. He also signals dissatisfaction with college and speaks about wanting to start something of his own soon and eventually discontinuing this work.

He recounts several incidents that have added to his bitterness. Speaking about the phone he now holds, bought with his own money, he recalls the day, his birthday, when he had to make a down payment for it. As he entered wearing the Swiggy T-shirt, the store employee gave him an earful about wanting to buy an iPhone as a delivery worker.

He also makes a point of avoiding the mandatory Swiggy Instamart T-shirt while delivering to IT companies, unwilling to be identified as a delivery worker in those spaces. “It hurts me how they look at me when I enter wearing the delivery T-shirt. They think I am beneath them,” he says.

The writer is an intern with the Indian Express