Driven by debt, powered by rent: secondary markets and platform capitalism in India’s food delivery sector

This study examines how access to productive assets, algorithmic control, and structural dependence reshape the labour process in India’s online food delivery sector. It addresses this critical gap by drawing on Labour Process Theory (LPT) and platform capitalism for analysing original primary survey data (n = 326), conducted as part of a larger research. The findings reveal that debt-financed and rented work assets facilitate entry while simultaneously creating new forms of dependencies. Rental costs, infrastructure constraints, opaque payments, and selective order allocation shift risks onto workers, constrain effective earnings, and reinforce dependence on platform work. Theoretically, the study extends analysis of platform labour beyond algorithmic control and contractual precarity by demonstrating how asset-based dependence can become part of the labour process itself. Empirically, it shows how asset access and secondary markets mediate participation and continuation in platform labour. Overall, the paper underscores the need for greater transparency, equitable risk distribution, and stronger regulatory oversight of the platform–rental arrangements.