Nisha Panwar gets up by 5.30 am, prepares breakfast for her children, gets them ready for school, and drops them on her way to work, either by Scooty or by auto. She’s on her phone most of the time, coordinating bookings that she has lined up. Some bookings start by 7-7.30 am, leaving her little to no time to eat a meal before she rushes to a client’s home.
This is a typical day for Nisha, 42, a beautician in Navi Mumbai who works with Urban Company, a platform that connects customers with service professionals.
It’s a punishing schedule that can’t allow for any delays, whether it’s traffic or difficulty finding a client’s home. Even if she’s late by a minute or two, customers dock her ratings, or cancel the appointment entirely. If the latter takes place, it’s money lost since she’s already spent on her commute.
“For five years, I have not paid any attention to having a proper meal whilst rushing from one customer to another,” she said.
The same courtesy isn’t extended to her. “If customers ask us to wait for 10-15 minutes while they attend meetings, feed kids or give medicines to their mothers-in-law, we have no option but to wait,” she said. And if that happens, Nisha is even more rushed to reach her next appointment on time.
This is why the Gig and Platform Service Workers’ Union, India’s first women workers-led trade union within the platform-based gig economy, launched two campaigns last month to protest against Urban Company.
The #DryJune campaign called for customers to boycott Urban Company entirely for the month to show solidarity with its workers. The Worker Ka IPO campaign wanted the company to include workers in company decision-making, flagged their right to be informed about the company’s evaluation, and to permit them to buy Urban Company’s stocks at a discounted price in the future.
Urban Company hasn’t responded yet to these demands, according to the union’s national coordination and committee member Anousha.
The company earned Rs 240 crore in FY 2025 after a loss of Rs 93 crore in the previous year, helped on its way by a Rs 211 crore tax credit. Meanwhile, workers, called ‘partners’, continue with their gruelling routines.
Newslaundry spoke to 10 Urban Company beauticians, all women, in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru to understand the nature of the company’s policies. All of them, like most of Urban Company’s workers, are from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
Barkha*, for example, lives over 1,300 km away from Nisha but her schedule is much the same. She wakes up at 6 am and leaves her home in Jaffrabad, in New Delhi to make it in time for her 7 am appointment, usually heading to Preet Vihar, Lakshmi Nagar or Gagan Vihar. Her commute takes her 30 minutes so she has no time to eat or pack food for the workday ahead.
When Barkha is done with her appointment, she usually gets a new one within 45 minutes, giving her no time to go home to eat. She heads off to the next appointment, and then the next, and then the next.
Rashi*, a worker in Mumbai, said she follows the same routine, and it’s especially difficult to figure out food and bathroom breaks. “We are women,” said Rashi. “We can’t take a bathroom break just anywhere like men.”
And while workers do have the right to refuse appointments, the app’s algorithm dictates what happens next.
Not as ‘flexible’ as it sounds
Urban Company workers are typically given a calendar to mark the days and hours they wish to work. They’re also free to cancel bookings or reject potential bookings depending on their schedules. As such, the company doesn’t have an official leave policy, since the number of days and hours of work are technically flexible.
But according to the workers, cancelling or being inactive for a few hours or days means the app then offers them fewer bookings or none at all, when compared to other workers who work more hours or accept all bookings.
“Urban Company assigns reliability parameters to service providers. Repeated cancellations or inactivity gives them a lower score,” said tech journalist Dhruv Batani. “As a business, this makes those partners a liability and so they are probably given a lower priority for open slots. The exact algorithm is, of course, proprietary. But this would make sense.”
Compounding the workers’ problems is that a few years ago, Urban Company introduced an “auto-assign” feature on its app for workers. If a worker has opted to work on a particular day, work is auto-assigned to them. While they are not mandated to accept, workers told Newslaundry they’re pressured to do so, regardless of location, time or money.
“Urban Company hasn’t made the auto-assign feature compulsory just for show,” said Dolly Devi, who worked as beautician with Urban Company in Navi Mumbai until her ID was blocked last year for allegedly making appointments with customers outside the app. “They continuously pressure and call us everyday, forcing us to opt for auto-assign for increased leads or services.”
Beauticians with Urban Company are divided into two categories, Prime and Lux, each with sub-categories (‘Som’ where jobs are auto-assigned, and ‘Flexi’ where they aren’t). Flexi workers tend to receive fewer leads, in order to push them to switch to Som. They all have target metrics that they’re expected to meet. If they don’t, they must go through tedious re-training programmes, receive fewer bookings and leads, and are at risk of their IDs being blocked, either permanently or temporarily.
For example, a worker cannot cancel more than three bookings auto-assigned to them, irrespective of health or personal issues. And they must work a minimum of 70 hours on weekends in a month.
Crucially, customers ‘rate’ them on the app after every service. A worker’s rating must be 4.7 or above. But even if a worker gets five 5-star ratings in a row, one bad rating from a customer can result in a significant drop – after which re-training becomes mandatory.
Workers told Newslaundry that re-training takes place both online and offline, depending on the nature of the service and the issue involved. Dolly Devi explained that in “serious” cases – low ratings, poor product scores, reduced response rates, allegations of offline bookings, repeated customer complaints – then the company gives them three warnings before permanently blocking their worker ID.
For the first warning, a worker is sent a video that addresses the specific problem. If the issue persists, the second warning involves a trainer reaching out to the worker directly. By the third warning, the company requires the worker to attend an offline training session.
Re-training can also be recommended for less serious cases, like an occasional complaint. These decisions are made on a case-by-case basis. For example, Sanjana, 44, a worker in Bengaluru had to attend a three-day online re-training programme after her ID was blocked due to her rating falling below 4.7.
“For those three days, we are unable to work, which is a huge loss for us,” she said.
Diksha*, a worker in Panvel in Mumbai, said she had to physically attend a re-training programme when the Urban Company app introduced a new facial.
“My grandmother died and we were unable to retrieve her body. However, Urban Company officials told me that an onsite re-training is mandatory and cannot be missed,” she said. “When I reached some hours late, they did not let me join the training as well.”
On top of that, Diksha had to travel 1.5 hours for the offline training programme, costing her both time and money.
Pay to join, pay to work, pay to stay
Urban Company workers are measured on their “product score”, calculated as a percentage of the total products the worker has bought from Urban Company. The company has its own brand products – like facial kits, pedicure kits, waxing strips and so on and workers must buy them. During an appointment, workers must also scan each and every product that is used.
Using even one product that isn’t Urban Company’s own brand, or running into technical issues with the QR code, leads to a hefty deduction in the worker’s product score percentage. This in turn can trigger re-trainings and ID blocks.
This is especially tough because workers told Newslaundry that Urban Company’s product prices are more expensive than other products available in the market. Urban Company, meanwhile, sells them the products at MRP.
“If I buy products such as napkins, bedsheets and bodycovers from a wholesale seller, they offer me a discount of at least 20 percent even after securing profits for themselves,” Nisha said. Barkha added, “At maximum, we get a discount of Rs 10, 20 or 50. Several others have complained of getting no discounts at all.”
Barkha explained the price difference: “A bundle of 12 wax strips costs us Rs 220. However, the company sells each wax strip at Rs 80-90. Items like gowns and bedsheets cost Rs 50 through the company, but we can get them for as little as Rs 12 in the market.”
Several workers who work as beauticians told Newslaundry that they had to pay “exorbitant” sums of money for “training and product kits” when they joined Urban Company. They said these cost between Rs 40,000 and Rs 50,000. The training period while joining used to be 15 days but it’s now spanning a month, during which time workers had to buy product kits from the company and provide their services for free to learn the ropes.
“I paid Rs 50,000 for training and product kit but could only pay Rs 10,000 upfront,” said Rishita, a beautician in Panvel. “For the rest of the money, I took a loan from the company which I paid back in a year.”
These aren’t the only expenses. Workers said they have to pay commissions, tax and subscribe to a monthly plan in exchange for a minimum amount of guaranteed work. The commission refers to the percentage paid to Urban Company from the amount earned on a service. In 2021, after protests by workers in Gurugram, Urban Company reduced its highest commission from 30 percent to 25 percent.
As for the monthly plan, workers have to pay about Rs 1,000 for a 10-day plan (there are plans for other periods too). They said they tend to get fewer service leads if they don’t opt for these plans. “We might get just one job in a day,” says Sanjana, the Urban Company worker in Bengaluru.
Newslaundry was told these plans are often advertised to them as lucrative for a “short period”, like a day or two, to push them to sign up. If they don’t opt in for a plan in this time period, the price of the plan goes up.
Besides these expenses, workers must add “credits”, any amount of money, on the app. When they finish a job or service, a certain number of credits (one credit is worth approximately Rs 10) is deducted from their balance. The amount of credits deducted depends on the value of the service rendered.
Workers categorised as Prime must maintain a credit balance of about Rs 2,500 on the app; Lux workers need a balance of about Rs 3,500.
Low earnings, no mercy
But how much do these workers earn?
In Delhi, for a service priced at Rs 2,400, Barkha pays Rs 900 for a one-time-use facial kit, Rs 60 for disposables (bedsheets, napkins, etc), Rs 150 for travel, about Rs 600 for Urban Company’s commission, and Rs 140 as TDS. That leaves her with an earning of about Rs 600.
And even that isn’t a sure shot in her bank account – they’re docked credits, and then a portion of their earnings is converted into credits to maintain their credit balance on the app.
Rishita, who works in Panvel, said for a service of Rs 767, she had to pay Rs 300 for travel (auto-rickshaw), Rs 150 for Urban Company’s commission, Rs 180 for product costs, and tax. She’s left with about Rs 100.
Beyond all these concerns is the physical and mental burden of the work.
Nisha said, “We have to carry 20-25 kilogram bags like donkeys. Imagine going up to the fourth floor like that? We can’t even access lifts in many societies as they are strictly for residents.”
Dolly Devi said, “The lack of proper rest, stress and no proper diet has led to pain in the wrists of both my hands. I have developed hyperthyroidism and low haemoglobin levels as per my doctor.”
Sonam*, 36, said she worked as a beautician with Urban Company but left in 2021 after her ID was permanently blocked.
“When I was working, I had suffered a miscarriage that was dismissed as a personal problem,” she said. “During my training period, we were told not to drink water for two or three hours otherwise we will have to use the washroom and the client might complain, so many women developed [kidney] stones for this.”
Sanjana in Bengaluru said workers aren’t shown mercy even during adverse weather or if they have health issues. “We have to work even when we’re on our periods, in rain, in summer without exception. I don’t even get time to change pads during my period.” she said.
No help on the helpline
On paper, Urban Company has a dedicated helpline for its workers. Yet Newslaundry was told responses are often “delayed” or of “no use”, since the company “sides with the customer”.
For example, Palki*, a beautician in Mumbai, said she received a booking from a woman for a pedicure. But when she went to the client’s house, she was asked to give the pedicure to a man, which made her feel unsafe and worried. Later on, she had even reached out to the helpline regarding this matter but no ultimate resolution was made as they said they’ll look into the matter.
Maansi* in Panvel said she was “harassed and cursed” by a woman client who insisted that she massage her legs, even though the booking was for only a facial. She said the client refused to pay her, and she was unable to get her money even after reaching out to the Urban Company helpline.
Maansi also said she’d developed pain in her hands and requested through the helpline that she be permitted to take up services other than pedicures. A regional manager got in touch with her but her request was denied due to lack of medical documents. “Will I get a checkup for Rs 4,000 or Rs 5,000 to provide them with documents?” she said.
Newslaundry spoke to Fidel Sebastian, a lawyer at the Nyay Neet Foundation that provides legal aid to marginalised and disadvantaged groups. When asked whether Urban Company workers can be classified as independent contractors, Sebastian said, “No. Under Indian jurisprudence, the work, if perennial in nature, makes an employee a workman.”
This essentially means that if the work is regular and permanent, the person must be treated like a full-time employee, not a “contractor” or “partner”. In that case, such employees would fall under the ambit of the Industrial Disputes Act and other allied laws, and would be eligible for provident funds, gratuities and other benefits.
But India lacks a dedicated national law for gig workers. The Code on Social Security 2020 recognised them but remains unimplemented due to pending state rules, leaving workers at platforms like Urban Company and Uber classified as contractors or partners without full-time employee benefits.
With Urban Company preparing to file its IPO, Selvi M, vice-president of the Gig and Platform Service Workers’ Union, said they’ve vowed to “fight against this IPO”.
Newslaundry sent Urban Company a detailed questionnaire. This report will be updated if they respond.
When contacted for comment, Bhavya Sharma, the company’s Senior Director of Corporate Communications and ESG, said: “We have an extremely open-door policy and we discuss any changes we make with our partners and their consent is taken. We do extensive in person meetings, there are walk-ins, so I am not understanding where their input is not being taken in the decision-making process.”
This report was republished from Newslaundry as part of The News Minute-Newslaundry alliance. Read more about our partnership here.