On Wednesday, Walmart-owned Flipkart announced starting a separate market square model, "Flipkart Xtra," to endeavor flexible earning opportunities to individuals, service agencies, and technicians. Through the "Flipkart Xtra" app on Google Play Store, Flipkart will render a simple and seamless onboarding experience to curious individuals.

After a background verification, individuals will be beneficial to onboard themselves for multiple roles, including delivery executives to start with and service partners or technicians in the coming months, a statement stated.

The new platform will help sustain Flipkart's supply chain to secure seamless and quicker delivery of shipments and service to consumers across India while generating part-time opportunities for individuals, it continued.

The launch, which comes before the festive season and the company's Big Billion Days, will benefit thousands of individuals, technicians, and service agencies across the country, granting access to additional work and earnings opportunities, as delivery partners told.

It added that Flipkart intends to onboard 4,000 part-time associates via Flipkart Xtra for the entire festive season driving until December 2021.

"As an organisation committed to creating value for all stakeholders including sellers, artisans, MSMEs, Kiranas, and customers, we are constantly expanding the scope of our partnership to equitably distribute the benefits of e-commerce...we are pleased to launch Flipkart Xtra, our service marketplace, to give flexible earning opportunities to individuals, local stores and even service technicians," Flipkart Senior Vice-President and Head of Supply Chain Hemant Badri stated.

He reckoned that this is a new severance in the gig economy space and will help individuals find an alternative source of income while contributing to the country's economic recovery.

Reports from BCG suggest that the gig economy has the capacity to toil up to 90 million jobs in India's non-farm economy alone, accomplish over $250 billion in the volume of work, and contribute an incremental 1.25 percent (approximately) to India' 's GDP over the long term.

In a separate statement, Flipkart group firm Myntra declared it is extending its "Kirana network" to 25,000 stores and is hiring 11,000 people for last-mile delivery and customer support ahead of the festive season.

The fashion e-commerce platform announced it is preparing for the upcoming festive period and its "Big Fashion Festival" by sizing up its on-ground staff. "With its robust supply chain, consisting largely of MENSA (Myntra Extended Network for Service Augmentation) partners, who are typically Kirana store owners in the neighbourhood, and its own Distribution Centers, Myntra is poised to deliver products and joyous experiences to millions of shoppers, while creating seasonal job opportunities, across the country," Myntra stated in its statement.