Vahan’s Novel AI Based Technology Helping Blue-Collar Workers Find Jobs Amidst Coronavirus Pandemic

• Blue-collar worker demand back to 100% of pre-covid levels in food and grocery delivery segment in the post lockdown phase
• Delivery sector is now creating 2.5 - 3 lakh delivery jobs every single month buoyed by IPL and the festive season
• Vahan to become India’s largest placement firm by placing 25000 people a month by the end of next year

Mumbai, 22 November 2020: In the unlock phase of Covid pandemic, business activity is fast recovering to near normal levels. This is creating a huge surge in demand for blue-collared workers many of whom had to go without income due to the nationwide lockdown imposed in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Vahan, a digital start-up that uses novel WhatsApp-based virtual assistant to automate hiring of blue-collar workforce, saw a rapid surge in uptake of its technology solution by both job seekers and job providers looking to get connected, given its simplicity and speed in closing the entire transaction from prospecting to closure.

Data captured by Vahan’s app shows massive resurgence in demand for blue-collar workers from food and grocery delivery segments where the demand is back at 100% of pre-covid levels. According to this data, delivery sector which saw decline in jobs during the lockdown is now creating 2.5 - 3 lakh delivery jobs every single month buoyed by IPL and the festive season. This is followed by hiring from manufacturing, ancillary and BPO sector.

According to Madhav Krishna, Co-founder and CEO, Vahan, “Demand for blue-collar jobs which saw an overall dip during the covid lockdown has witnessed sharp recovery led by the delivery segment which include food as well as grocery delivery. This trend points to growing consumer optimism in India about Covid-19 economic recovery.Blue-collar industry is an underserved market in India. At Vahan, we are leveraging the power of technology to create India’s employment exchange 2.0 that seamlessly connects employers and job seekers effectively, with speed and at an unprecedented scale.”

Interest in Vahan’s placement solution is high as it is pivoted around WhatsApp which is ubiquitously popular among the SEC D&E workers and the simplicity with which the entire process is executed.

India has over 320 million blue-collared workers, and this number is growing with decline in agricultural employment and addition of around 7-8 million new college graduates to the work force every year, 60% of which lack employability skills, and end up joining blue/grey-collar work force. This presents a massive opportunity for placement in the blue-collar industry.

About Vahan

Vahan is leveraging the power of Machine Learning to not only help blue-collar workers find jobs that match their skills but is also helping employers find the right resource / candidate at the right price, at the right place and at the right moment. The digital start-up uses matching tools effectively to find the right fit for client organizations thereby reducing the hiring cost by 20-30% besides saving hapless blue-collar workers from exploitation at the hands of middlemen.

Vahan is working with clients across sectors including Retail, Hospitality, Healthcare, Logistics, Warehousing and BFSI. Some of its clients include Shadowfax, Amazon, Zomato, and Swiggy. Currently, it has over 4 million users from over 1200 cities on its product and has already placed 70,000 people across India.

Backed by Y Combinator, Khosla Ventures, Airtel and many former and current Google and Flipkart executives, the company is well poised to become India’s largest placement firm in India by the end of next year.