After paying commission and fuel, very little remains at the end of the day
Across India's cities, the people who move goods and passengers through digital platforms are pausing to make visible what spreadsheets obscure: that when the cost of motion rises, it is the worker at the wheel who absorbs the difference. A three-rupee-per-litre fuel hike — itself a consequence of crude oil surging past $105 a barrel amid geopolitical disruption — has widened the gap between what gig workers spend and what app platforms pay them, prompting a nationwide strike on Saturday afternoon. The Gig and Platform Services Workers Union is asking a question that sits at the heart of the platform economy: when costs are immediate but fare adjustments are discretionary, who bears the risk of a volatile world?
- Petrol prices jumped to Rs 97.77 per litre in Delhi and Rs 110.8 in Hyderabad overnight, hitting gig workers with an immediate and uncompensated cost increase.
- Drivers like Mohammed describe days where commission, fuel, and survival expenses leave almost nothing — the arithmetic of the gig economy has turned against them.
- App platforms have not raised passenger fares to match the fuel surge, creating a structural gap that workers must bridge from their own shrinking margins.
- State refiners are themselves losing Rs 10–13 per litre and oil executives have signaled further hikes are coming, meaning the pressure on gig workers is likely to deepen before it eases.
- Saturday's five-hour shutdown is the union's attempt to translate invisible economic suffering into visible collective action — a demand that the platforms and the government reckon with who actually carries the cost of volatility.
On Saturday, from noon until five in the evening, India's app-based drivers and delivery workers will step away from their screens in protest. The Gig and Platform Services Workers Union has called the shutdown in response to a fuel price hike that landed Friday morning: petrol and diesel rose by roughly three rupees per litre, pushing Delhi petrol to Rs 97.77 and Hyderabad to Rs 110.8 — a climb driven by crude oil surging from around $70 to nearly $105 a barrel amid disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.
For workers like Mohammed, a cab driver, the increase is not an abstraction. Fuel costs hit immediately; the commission the app takes is non-negotiable; and what remains at the end of a day's work has grown too thin to reliably cover a household. The core grievance is structural: when fuel prices spike, drivers absorb the cost in real time, but the fares passengers pay through the platforms do not adjust in step.
The financial strain runs deeper than any single worker's ledger. State-run refiners are losing an estimated Rs 10–13 per litre, and crude costs for Indian refiners have climbed 53 percent since February. Oil company executives have indicated that Friday's hike is not the last — further increases are pending government approval, meaning the economics gig workers already cannot absorb may worsen still.
Saturday's strike is the union's way of making that pressure legible — a collective refusal to remain invisible while costs rise and earnings stagnate. Whether it moves the platforms to adjust their algorithms or prompts a government response remains uncertain. What is not uncertain is that millions of workers whose livelihoods run on fuel are now running on margins that the current arrangement was not built to sustain.
On Saturday, India's gig workers will step away from their apps. From noon until five in the evening, app-based drivers ferrying passengers across cities and delivery workers pedaling through neighborhoods will pause their work in protest. The Gig and Platform Services Workers Union has called for the shutdown, and the reason is straightforward: fuel prices just jumped, and the money they earn hasn't.
Friday morning, India's state-run oil companies raised petrol and diesel prices by roughly three rupees per litre. In Delhi, petrol now costs Rs 97.77 per litre. In Hyderabad, the price climbed even higher—to Rs 110.8 per litre, up from Rs 107.45 just days earlier. Diesel followed a similar trajectory. The increases ripple outward from a global squeeze: crude oil prices have surged from around $70 a barrel before recent geopolitical tensions to nearly $105 now, driven by disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. India's refiners have absorbed much of this shock, but Friday's decision passed some of it along to consumers at the pump.
For a cab driver named Mohammed, the math is brutal. Every rupee spent on fuel comes directly from his pocket. The app company takes its commission. The fuel tank empties. What remains barely covers his family's needs. "After paying commission and fuel charges, very little money remains with us at the end of the day," he said. "Some days it becomes difficult even to meet household expenses." This is not a complaint about hardship in the abstract. This is a man describing the gap between what he earns and what his household requires to survive. The problem, as drivers see it, is that when fuel prices spike, their costs rise immediately. But the fares passengers pay through the app do not adjust in tandem. The platforms have not raised what they charge riders to match what drivers now spend on petrol and diesel.
The broader picture is one of structural squeeze. State-run fuel retailers are themselves losing money—roughly Rs 10 per litre on petrol and Rs 13 per litre on diesel, according to financial analysts at Crisil. Crude oil costs for Indian refiners have jumped 53 percent since February, climbing from an average of $69 a barrel to over $106 in May. During that same stretch, petrol and diesel prices have each risen about 75 percent. For most of the past four years, fuel prices had held relatively steady. The last significant change came in March 2024, when the central government cut excise duty by two rupees per litre. Now, with global oil markets volatile and supply chains strained, prices are moving upward again.
Oil company executives have signaled that more increases may come, pending government approval. The decision to raise prices Friday was not presented as the final adjustment. It was presented as the beginning of a process. For gig workers already operating on thin margins, the prospect of further hikes compounds the pressure. Saturday's strike is their way of making that pressure visible—of saying that the current arrangement, where their costs rise but their earnings do not, is unsustainable. The union's message on social media was direct: workers across India should observe the shutdown to protest both the fuel price increases and what they describe as inadequate payment rates from the platforms themselves. Whether the strike will prompt the app companies to adjust their algorithms or the government to reconsider its approach remains to be seen. What is certain is that for millions of workers whose livelihoods depend on moving through cities on fuel they must now buy at higher prices, the economics have shifted in a direction they cannot absorb.
Notable Quotes
After paying commission and fuel charges, very little money remains with us at the end of the day. Some days it becomes difficult even to meet household expenses.— Mohammed, app-based cab driver
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does a fuel price hike hit gig workers so much harder than other professions?
Because they don't have a salary. Their income is directly tied to how many trips they complete and how much they earn per trip. When fuel costs rise, it's an immediate subtraction from their pocket. A salaried office worker might notice higher gas prices on their commute, but a driver who makes fifty trips a day—that's fifty times the fuel cost is eating into their margin.
But couldn't the app companies just raise fares to match the fuel increase?
They could, but they haven't. The platforms say fares are set by algorithms that balance driver supply, rider demand, and competition. Raising fares means fewer riders book trips. So there's a business incentive to keep fares low even when driver costs rise. The driver absorbs the gap.
Is this a new problem, or has it always been this way?
It's gotten sharper now. Fuel prices had been stable for years—since April 2022, basically. Drivers adapted to that reality. Now crude oil is at $105 a barrel, and the government isn't subsidizing fuel the way it used to. The shock is sudden and severe.
What does the strike actually accomplish if the app companies control the fares?
It makes the problem visible. It disrupts service in five major cities on a Saturday afternoon. It forces the conversation into public view. Whether it changes anything depends on whether the platforms feel enough pressure, or whether the government decides to intervene.
Could the government step in?
They could cut excise duty again, like they did in 2024. They could pressure the oil companies to absorb more of the cost. They could regulate what the app platforms charge. But right now, the signal is that prices will keep rising. The oil executives said so explicitly.