It is 8:30 a.m. Office-goers bustle outside Chembur’s Sandu Garden in Mumbai, while teens laze on swings and slides, doomscrolling through their phones. Elderly citizens and middle-aged men practise yoga or jog around the garden’s tracks as the city awakens to a new day.
Priti Saputre (40) looks alert, wearing a black shirt with the name of a quick-service app printed on the back, as she waits for a notification on her phone to get to work as a domestic worker. With six bookings a day, each up to 2 hours, Saputre endures 12-hour work days. She is paid every 15 days.
“I have been working for a year and a half for them and earn about ₹25,000 per month if I get all five stars. If I get four stars, the pay is halved. Only two cancellations are allowed every 15 days,” says Saputre. Every cancellation by her also withholds ₹1,000 from her pay, she says.
Madhuri Chaudhary, 42, prefers being a full-time domestic worker due to flexible timings
| Photo Credit:
Suchitra Karthikeyan
Since 2025, applications like Snabbit and Pronto have entered the domestic work market, and existing players like Urban Company have expanded their services to include house help on demand under InstaHelp. These applications allow customers to book a domestic worker (almost exclusively women) for an hour or more to do most of the household work: dusting, cleaning, mopping, washing utensils, cutting vegetables, and more. The rates start as low as ₹99 an hour and come with bulk welcome offers such as ₹49 for three bookings to attract more customers.
Rating-based pay on time
“We don’t have any weekly offs, and lunchtime is decided by our supervisor. This usually varies as per the bookings,” says Shaheen, a 32-year-old woman working for a quick-service company. She says that the star-rating works both ways. “We can rate a customer as bad, and that person will not be listed for me again. But if someone else has reported a particular customer as bad, they may appear on my list as a potential customer”. Sick days also result in docking pay.
From 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., both women work in and around Chembur, resting in between at Sandu Garden in Mumbai.
“Initially, women working with these app-based companies were reluctant to talk to us,” says Deepak Paradkar, the Maharashtra co-ordinator for Aajeevika Bureau. The non-profit organisation works with workers in the unorganised sector for their rights, pay, and social security.
“However, in the past year, many changes have been introduced, which have made more women approach us. Initially, the app-based work was paying more. As more women join, the clauses for docking pay have increased. In one case, a worker had her salary halved due to new clauses like late login, insufficient hours, and lower star-rating,” says Mr. Paradkar.
He adds that the women who opt for app-based work are generally young and look at it as a career, rather than something they must do for sustenance.
Customer is king
The ultimate gainer is the customer. Younger people who have recently relocated to newer localities prefer booking domestic workers as per their need.
Anshika, a 32-year-old bank employee residing in Chembur, uses Snabbit, as she is assured of help when she needs it. “At ₹99/hour, the app is more reliable than a bai [domestic worker], as there is no scope for her skipping work. I can also add the same worker as a favourite if I am pleased with her work, so that I can repeat her in the next booking,” she says. The app allows customers to book workers between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Both Snabbit and Urban Company’s InstaHelp offer women workers and hike rates exclusively over the weekends due to heavy demand.
“Both me and the worker can rate each other. While she will be able to see my rating of her work, I cannot see hers,” says Anshika.
Mr. Paradkar says the problem with the rating system is that when a worker complains about a customer, no real action is taken against the customer.
Older citizens too are switching to these apps to save time and costs. “On a monthly basis, a bai charges ₹2,000 each for a job,” says Surendra Makharia, a 70-year-old resident of Malad’s Raheja Township in Mumbai. Mr. Makharia uses Snabbit and has purchased a ‘Pink Pass’ which allows unlimited hourly bookings in a day for ₹99/ hour. “I can book in advance if needed, but cancellation prior to two hours of the booking attracts a ₹49 fine,” explains Mr. Makharia. Like Anshika, he too uses the favourite feature to repeat a preferred domestic worker. Compared to a full-time domestic worker, an app-based worker has no weekly holidays and there is no issue of leave, notes Mr. Makharia.
Mr. Paradkar says people try to squeeze in unreasonable amounts of work into a time slot. “If someone is booked for an hour and they complete the assigned tasks before time, then additional tasks are added by the customer for the same pay. Workers have complained that if they refuse to do additional tasks, their ratings drop, resulting in docking of pay or fewer jobs,” explains Mr. Paradkar.
Familiarity, flexibility, and negotiation
Not all domestic workers want to be on these apps. Manisha Chaudhary (42), prefers to do full-time housework. Working in four houses in a locality around Chembur’s Diamond Garden in Mumbai and two independent bungalows nearby, she says her work and timings are flexible.
“I have seen these [app-based] workers sit around Diamond Garden waiting for bookings. They are not allowed to go home till their shift ends at 7:30, even if they have no jobs. I work from 7:45 in the morning to 6 in the evening, and am free to go if I finish my jobs earlier,” says Ms. Chaudhary.
Assured and timely pay, which has attracted most workers to these apps, has not fazed Ms. Chaudhary. “I do different jobs like cooking, washing clothes, dusting, cleaning, and cutting vegetables for varied durations in six houses. I can negotiate my pay for each job in each house. I also take two days off per month, which most employers agree to. I get a raise during festivals and can negotiate leave in case of emergencies,” explains Ms. Chaudhary. By knowing all other domestic workers in the locality, Ms. Chaudhary has a vast network of possible new jobs.
Her view is shared by other workers in the locality. Madhuri (45) too enjoys the flexibility in work timings. “Mornings are hectic at home. There is a water cut, and my child goes to school in the morning, so I cannot come to work before noon. I work from noon to 8:30 in the evening in the same locality and one adjoining bungalow,” says Madhuri.
However, she says that she is overworked by some customers and has had fights with some over pay. “The pay is less than those apps, but full-time work is less taxing and travel time is saved. I can also ask my employers for my salary early, in case of emergencies,” says Madhuri.
Mr. Paradkar says the apps have changed the nature of domestic worker relationships. “Women in traditional housework know each other and build a community. Apps have killed this, as workers are sent to different locations, giving no opportunity for bonding,” he says.
The lack of a safety net
Safety is a big concern for women working via these apps. Apart from reporting problematic customers, Snabbit and Urban Company have an SOS button which the worker can press, alerting her supervisor, positioned nearby.
Mr. Paradkar says there have been instances when the door was locked with a complex locking system once the worker entered a customer’s home. One worker alleged that a customer asked her to watch movies with him, while another worker alleged that a customer had hinted at sex, he says. All of the cases were reported to Aajeevika Bureau, which has sought the government’s intervention.
Both Snabbit and Urban Company did not respond to The Hindu’s questions on pay and safety of the workers, and app processes.
Domestic-work app-based workers are not currently eligible for social security under any Maharashtra government scheme, says Mr. Paradkar. “These women are not workers but ‘partners’ as per these apps which puts them under the ‘self-employed’ category,” he explains.
“When we tried to register these women on Maharashtra’s domestic worker portal, a signature from the employer is required, which is the customer in this case. Most of them refuse to sign as these workers do temporary jobs at their houses,” Paradkar says. He adds that the apps are not ready to take responsibility as an ‘employer’, making it impossible to register these women for social security benefits offered by the State.
Parliament passed the Social Security Code, 2020, which provides the unorganised workforce, including platform and gig workers with social benefits.
“Currently, we are under the process of getting them e-Shram cards so that they may get some benefits in the future,” says Paradkar. The e-Shram card registers workers in the national database of unorganised workers and can facilitate access to eligible social-security schemes.
Aajeevika Bureau held a stakeholder meeting in Mumbai on October 14 with trade unions, activists, domestic workers (both full-time and app-based) to make raise awareness on the issues faced by them. A study on the changing nature of house-help will shortly be released.
None of these factors has halted the expansion of these apps. Pronto is available in 11 cities, including Delhi and Mumbai and their satellite cities. In February this year, Urban Company declared to its investors that its InstaHelp had crossed 50,000 daily bookings in less than a year of its launch. Snabbit is available in 9 cities.
‘Make Snabbit a habit’, ‘Carry Bappa, not house chores’, and ‘Maid on leave? Don’t grieve,’ proclaim posters with smiling domestic ‘partners’ across Indian cities, fuelling the 10-minute house-help service. The burden on the worker is reflected nowhere.
suchitra.k@thehindu.co.in
