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There was a steep rise of 39 per cent in the number of contract workers across sectors last year, according to a survey by industry chamber Assocham.
In contrast, the growth in the number of regular workers nearly halved to 25 per cent.
Contracterisation of workforce
Terming the growing trend of contracterisation of workforce as a “serious risk” to workers’ morale and corporate growth, the country-wide survey found the trend more prevalent in sectors such as automobiles, manufacturing, telecom, IT, BPO, FMCG, healthcare and education.
“Apart from being paid less than regular employees on corporate payrolls doing similar tasks, contract workers have virtually no job security and no benefits like medical aid, gratuity, provident fund, educational funds, pension and health insurance and leaves benefits,” said DS Rawat, Secretary General, Assocham.
Sector-wise data
The survey, ‘Steep rise of permanently temporary workers — India’s workforce goes casual’, shows the telecom sector scoring the worst with up to 60 per cent of its staff on contract, followed by automobiles (56 per cent) and other sectors such as education (54 per cent), manufacturing (52 per cent), FMCG (51 per cent), IT, BPO (42 per cent), hospitality & travel (35 per cent), pharma and healthcare (32 per cent).
“Contract labour is increasingly being used in smaller and larger Indian companies as well as multinationals,” it said.
The survey was taken in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Cochin, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Indore, Patna, Pune, Chandigarh and Dehradun.
According to the survey, there has been a steady rise in the number of contract employees, who rose 39 per cent in 2013, 32 per cent in 2012, 28 per cent in 2011 and 22 per cent in 2010.
The survey also found that regular workers were earning more than triple that of contract workers for doing the same job.
Also, it noted that contract work was no longer confined to worker level jobs. “There are scientists, doctors, business managers and chartered accountants working on the rolls of labour contractors,” Rawat said.
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