Working Paper 02 (2025):
The End of Patchwork: A Unified
Framework for India’s Gig Economy
Anjana A Karumathil
India’s gig economy, home to over 17 million workers, is marked by fragmented protections
and volatile work conditions. Despite the sector’s rapid growth and economic significance,
national regulatory responses remain piecemeal and largely voluntary. This paper outlines a
unified framework to integrate platform-based labour within India’s formal labour architecture.
Drawing on policy developments in Rajasthan and Karnataka, as well as international
precedents from the EU and Australia, the paper identifies five core challenges—income
volatility, algorithmic opacity, legal ambiguity, fragmented protections, and institutional
inertia. It offers actionable policy solutions including minimum earnings guarantees, statutory
social security contributions, algorithmic accountability mandates, standardised contracts, and
support for cooperative platforms. The proposed framework aims to guide Indian policymakers
toward a more inclusive, accountable, and future-ready gig economy.
Working Paper 01 (2025):
The Future of Trade and Competition in the Digital Economy
Pradeep S Mehta
The digital economy is reshaping the global landscape of trade and competition,
driven by rapid technological advancements and evolving geopolitical dynamics. As
nations recalibrate their economic strategies to address new challenges and
opportunities, questions surrounding data governance, market regulation, and cross
border digital flows have become central to policy debates. This paper explores the
interplay between trade and competition in the digital era, with a particular focus on
the strategic roles of major global powers, emerging economies, and domestic policy
frameworks. Drawing on insights from CUTS International’s research and global
dialogues, the paper aims to inform a balanced policy approach that fosters
innovation, promotes fair competition, and safeguards the openness of the global
digital economy.
Working Paper 01 (2023):
Antitrust in Crisis: The Economic Theories Debate
Gokul Plaha
Today, antitrust law, policy, and enforcement are in crisis. The dominant intellectual paradigms are
increasingly being questioned. The world is revisiting what antitrust has come to mean and
deliberating on what it must mean. For instance, countries around the world, including India, are
deliberating whether to introduce an ex-ante regime to regulate digital markets from an antitrust
standpoint. To make sense of the different perspectives in this debate, it is crucial for Indian
policymakers, businesses, and ordinary citizens to be well-versed in the fundamental tenets of the
economic theories undergirding them. This paper discusses four major schools of thought: a. Neoclassical (Chicago School); b. Neo-Brandeisian; c. Post-Chicago; and d. Complexity-minded Antitrust.
It points out where and how these schools of thought converge and diverge. Lastly, the paper consciously
avoids taking any position with respect to this debate.
The purpose of this paper is to make a humble contribution toward apprising Indian policymakers of
the major debates in antitrust economics (and economics more generally). Those debates have a direct
bearing on our competition policy and enforcement. In doing so, the paper also seeks to speak to Indian
citizens, whose fates are inextricably tied to this crucial debate.