BluSmart Workers Protest: ‘Call Us by Our Name’

BluSmart Mobility, once viewed as India’s green ride-hailing alternative, ceased operations in April 2025 leaving nearly 10,000 drivers unemployed without notice. The abrupt shutdown followed a regulatory action by SEBI which barred BluSmart’s main investor Gensol Engineering Ltd, due to allegations of financial misconduct.

In the beginning of May affected drivers engaged in protests throughout Delhi under the banner ‘Call Us By Our Name’ demanding severance pay, alternative work and above all acknowledgement of their identity as workers not just partners in a platform-style business.

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BluSmart had differentiated itself in India’s platform economy. For example, it owned its fleet of electric vehicles, provided training to women drivers and offered a minimum income guarantee. However, when disaster struck, the company provided no safety net for the workers who built its platform. This has exposed significant cracks in the structure and valuation of platform labor.

The gig economy in India is facing similar challenges. Workers at Urban Company, Blinkit and other platforms have gone on strike to demand their basic rights but these actions have mostly failed to incite national conversation because of their dispersed nature. Gig workers also bear operational costs that are subject to tight controls from platforms and risk losing their job even for minor infractions and they have no legal rights protecting them.

While states such as Rajasthan and Karnataka have passed or drafted laws that extend social security to gig workers, most states do not have any enforceable protections regarding pay, working hours or terminations. Cooperative platforms are emerging as an alternative but many workers are still working in 12+ hour days, exposed to extreme weather and subject to arbitrary penalties.

The BluSmart strike is not simply about a company stopping business it is about dignity, fairness and legal recognition. It reinforces the immediacy for policy makers to make sure that the people who power the platform economy are not left behind when it fails.