More than 400,000 jobs in India will be up for grab for last-mile delivery and supply-chain personnel in the next 90 days, almost 50% up from a year ago, reports the Economic Times. Staffing needs will be spread across grocery and food deliveries, medicines, apparel and fashion and will be a mix of regular and gig workers. The surge in manpower demand is to cater to normal organic growth due to increase in online shopping. Online and on-demand tech-backed gig marketplace for instant deliveries will drive more demand considering the shift in purchasing behaviours,” said Abhishek Bansal, cofounder, Shadowfax Technologies. “The sector is constantly evolving, and delivery agents are a crucial part of it. With this, we are expecting more demand in the near future.”

“Quick commerce will see the next big wave of investment and will open up a plethora of opportunities for online players. Last-mile delivery network is extremely manpower-heavy and hence the need to serve customers instantly will create a lot of employment opportunities,” said Angshuman Bhattacharya, national leader, consumer and retail at EY. Staffing firms such as ManpowerGroup India are seeing a surge in demand. “We are witnessing increased demand by 25-30% compared to the last quarter,” said Alok Kumar, senior director for sales, account management and global accounts, ManpowerGroup India.