2.5 Lakh Festive Jobs at Flipkart: Is a Diwali Gig Worth It?

Flipkart alone says it has created more than 2.5 lakh jobs and gig opportunities for this festive season. Nearly 75,000 of them are going to people entering the workforce for the first time.

That is one company. Add Amazon, Meesho, Myntra and the quick-commerce apps, and the festive rush has become the biggest short-term side-income window of the year. The question is whether a few weeks of it are worth your time.

Quick answer

• Staffing firm Adecco India expects the festive temporary and gig workforce requirement to reach about 2.5-2.7 lakh, against about 2.16 lakh last year.
• Most of the work is last-mile delivery, sorting, picking and packing, and warehouse or dark-store shifts.
• Temporary wages are expected to rise 10 to 15 per cent year-on-year, with much of the extra money coming as bonuses and incentives, not base pay.
• Around 45% of the demand is outside the metros, in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, so you may not need to move to find work.

The numbers: who is hiring for the festive rush

Here is what the big platforms have announced, as reported by The Hindu, BusinessLine and The New Indian Express.

• Flipkart: more than 2.5 lakh direct and indirect opportunities, including gig roles. About 60% are in last-mile delivery, backed by more than 900 new festive delivery hubs.
• Amazon: more than 1.6 lakh seasonal work opportunities across 400+ cities, alongside an investment of over ₹2,800 crore in its operations network and technology.
• Meesho: over 10 lakh seasonal job opportunities, including around 6.5 lakh across its seller network and 3.75 lakh in logistics.
• Myntra: more than 26,000 seasonal roles, including 8,000 delivery partners and 2,700 customer service roles.

Not everyone is going the temporary route. Zepto's chief operating officer told The New Indian Express that it is investing in a stable, permanent workforce instead of relying on temporary staffing.

Why the demand is this big now

The shopping is driving the hiring. Redseer Strategy Consultants expects online retail to grow 25 per cent year-on-year in the 2026 festive period, up from 16 per cent last year, BusinessLine reported.

Quick commerce is the fastest part. Redseer expects it to grow 110 to 120 per cent year-on-year during the festive period.

Bar chart: Meesho over 10 lakh, Flipkart over 2.5 lakh and Amazon over 1.6 lakh seasonal work opportunities

Source: The New Indian Express, The Hindu

That is why Adecco's Deepesh Gupta estimates quick commerce will account for around 1-1.25 lakh temporary workers this season. Delivery executives, picker-packers, sortation staff, fleet coordinators and dark-store workers make up much of the extra demand.

The work is also spreading out. Flipkart says the customer base of its quick-commerce service, Flipkart Minutes, in smaller markets grew nearly 25-fold year-on-year, in cities like Kanpur, Siliguri, Salem and Tirupur. BusinessLine lists Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur and Coimbatore among the tier-2 and tier-3 cities seeing festive hiring.

What the pay looks like

None of the reports give a single festive pay figure, and you should be wary of anyone who promises one.

What they do say is that pay is going up. Adecco expects temporary wages to rise 10 to 15 per cent year-on-year. TeamLease Services expects frontline salaries to rise 8 to 10 per cent in the second half of 2026.

The catch is how that money arrives. Employers are using attendance bonuses, retention payouts, productivity-linked incentives, referral bonuses, surge multipliers, fuel and shift allowances, and completion bonuses.

In plain words, the people who earn the most are the ones who show up every day of the peak and stay until the season ends. If you plan to work only two weekends, expect to miss most of the bonus money.

How to pick a festive gig that pays off

1. Decide your hours first. A full-time warehouse shift and an evening delivery slot are very different jobs. Pick what fits around your main work or college.

2. Ask how pay is split. Before you sign up, ask what is fixed per order or per shift, and what depends on bonuses or targets.

3. Check the costs that come out of your pocket. For delivery work, fuel, phone data and vehicle wear eat into what you take home. Ask whether a fuel allowance is paid.

4. Count the bonus conditions. If a retention payout needs you to work until the last day of the sale, put that date in your calendar before you join.

5. Look for rest facilities on your route. Amazon told CNBC-TV18 that its free Ashray rest centres record 5,000 to 6,000 visits a day. They offer air-conditioned seating, drinking water, phone charging and washrooms, and they are open to delivery workers from other platforms who show a valid ID card.

Amazon plans to add 50 more Ashray centres, taking the network to 200, and is targeting 250 by the end of 2026. Mobile Ashray vans now run in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

Mistakes and scams to avoid

Paying to get a job. Real platforms onboard you through their own apps and offices. Anyone who asks for a fee to "confirm" a festive job is a red flag.

Ignoring your day job contract. If you are salaried, check whether your employment contract has a moonlighting clause before you take on side work.

Treating a festive gig as a permanent job. Most of these roles are seasonal. Use the weeks to save, learn the work and build references, not to plan your rent around them.

Skipping training. Flipkart says its Supply Chain Operations Academy has issued nearly 10,000 certifications ahead of the season, run with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Short training like this can help you get picked for better-paid roles next season.

A quick tax note

Festive gig income is still income. If you already earn a salary, the extra money adds to your total income for the year. This is information only, so check with a CA if you are unsure how to file it.

FAQs

How many festive gig jobs are there this year? Adecco India estimates about 2.5-2.7 lakh temporary and gig jobs across e-commerce and quick commerce, up from about 2.16 lakh last year. Individual platforms report their own, larger totals that include indirect roles.

Do I need to live in a metro to get festive work? No. Around 45% of workforce demand is expected from tier-2 and tier-3 cities, according to Adecco.

Are women hired for these roles? Yes. Flipkart says women make up more than 20% of its supply chain workforce.

Is the pay higher during the festive season? Adecco expects temporary wages to rise 10 to 15 per cent year-on-year, mostly through bonuses and incentives that reward full attendance.

Have you done a festive delivery or warehouse gig before? Tell us what it actually paid you after costs.

Results vary; nothing here is a promise of income.

Sources

• BusinessLine: Festive online retail surge set to lift gig hiring as platforms prepare for five-year high
• The New Indian Express: Festive hiring gathers pace as e-commerce, quick-commerce firms expand workforce
• The Hindu: Flipkart creates 2.5 lakh festive-season jobs, 75,000 for first-time entrants
• CNBC-TV18: Amazon's Ashray network sees 5,000-6,000 daily visits as festive deliveries pick up