A talk on ‘Platformization of Food Delivery and its Implications’ by Dr Mohammad Sajjad Hussain

This talk is a part of the Postdoctoral Colloquium by the Moturi Satyanarayana Centre for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences

About the talk

In this talk, I will look at how food delivery services have been engulfed by platformization. Using Swiggy and Zomato as examples, I will argue that food delivery platforms have embedded themselves as inevitable digital mediators and redefined the relationships between restaurants, customers, and delivery workers. I will trace the growth trajectory of these platforms, to show how the platforms leverage their intermediary position as entry into the food delivery sector to then emerge as dominant players. Finally, I will elaborate upon the various changes that accompany platformization such as the emergence of cloud-kitchen, changing platform-restaurant relation, the rise of hyper-local delivery and the changing nature of the market.

About the speaker

Dr Mohammed Sajjad Hussain is a sociologist specializing in the study of digital platforms. He completed his PhD in Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. His doctoral research analyzed the changing nature of work with the rise of labour platforms, focusing on the food delivery workers in Hyderabad. His research has been published in the Journal of South Asian Development and The India Forum. His current research is focused on the platformization of the food delivery sector and its implications beyond labour. He is the recipient of the IEG-ICSSR Doctoral Fellowship 2017-19. Before his doctoral studies, Sajjad worked as an Academic Associate at the Indian Institute of Management- Bangalore, and also as a researcher at the Hyderabad Urban Lab.

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