According to a report from the Indian Staffing Federation, "Indian Flexi Staffing Industry Research 2016: Sectoral and State Analysis”, India is expected to employ 2.9 million ‘flexi staff’ by 2018, becoming the third largest country to employ contract employees globally.

The report showed that in 2015, 15 sectors employed 1.81 million flexi staff. It stated that with a growth rate of 12.3% over 2015-18 for 11 states, flexi-staffing is becoming the job creation engine where over 9 million youth would be added to the organised workforce in the next 20 years. The highest growth is expected in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and Gujarat.

According to the report, with every 1% conversion of informal workers to flexi, 1.5 million gain access to social security. A legal framework to protect the interest of this growing fraternity and many more ready to be tapped is the need of the hour.

"There should be national regulatory framework for flexi staffing in the country as it would address the concerns of trade unions whose utmost concern is fair wages for the workers," ISF president Rituparna Chakraborty said.

"India is one of the very few countries which has the younger workforce with every month a million kids getting added to India's workforce and potentially to the world's workforce," Chakraborty said.

Managing Director of International Confederation of Private Employment Agencies (Ciett) Denis Pennel also advocated for national regulatory framework for flexi staffing to encourage employment under this mode.