Startups step in to give gig workers a place to rest

For the workers who keep India’s quick commerce and e-commerce deliveries running, a clean toilet, a meal sitting down and a corner to rest remain hard to find. Riders wait outside dark stores for orders, and some sleep in rooms where electric scooter batteries are charged.

A handful of startups are now trying to fill this infrastructure gap. Hyderabad-based Upzy is building community centres for workers. It opened its first, a 9,000 sq ft facility in Kondapur, Hyderabad, on October 2. It has a canteen, phone charging and battery-swapping stations, washrooms and a co-working space. Membership costs Rs 350 a month or Rs 99 a week, with unlimited visits from 6 am to 11 pm. The centre cost about Rs 4 crore to build.