By Mohit Hira
Your mobile phone beeps. A six-digit code SMS has arrived. You copy-paste or key in the numbers, a transaction gets completed, and your transient relationship with these numbers ends. They’re deleted, and you move on. But, behind these ubiquitous OTPs (one-time passwords) that run a huge industry across countries, lie thousands —if not millions—of real human stories.
And that’s the beauty of Vandana Vasudevan’s OTP Please! Online Buyers, Sellers and Gig Workers in South Asia— replete with anecdotes gathered from many conversations, she dives beneath the surface of south Asia’s digital consumer revolution. Centred on the realities that underpin the authentication familiar to every Indian online shopper, this book isn’t something an average reader would pick up.
But if you’re working in—or funding —e-commerce startups, and are interested in a compelling, balanced, and meticulously researched study of how these platforms—from Amazon and Swiggy to Ola and Urban Company—are transforming the lives of buyers, sellers, and gig workers, this book will make you reflect.
Unseen human cost of convenience
Where most narratives focus on the magic of instant deliveries and strong company valuations, Vasudevan broadens her perspective to cover the entire ecosystem—not just consumers and VC-backed startups, but also gig workers and small businesses, and, crucially, their emotional landscapes. This is what makes her work unique. She uses vivid stories and detailed studies (including surveys of over 5,000 gig workers) to illustrate how technology-driven commerce is fundamentally altering economies, relationships, and daily lives across the subcontinent beyond India, in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
It would’ve been simple to structure the narrative by segmenting them into buyers, sellers, and workers. Instead, the author delivers a deeply empathetic, multi-dimensional view of the shifting landscape by arranging the anecdotes around nine emotions—Pleasure, Guilt, Gratitude, Anger, Freedom, Oppression, Anxiety, Isolation and Courage. A new-age navarasa of an OTP-driven generation.
Almost everyone who reads this review will fall into the 12-14 crore strong ‘consuming class’ that cannot survive without digital platforms, often without even sparing a thought for the unseen labour and precarious conditions that make this convenience possible. Drawing on first-person interviews and sociological analyses, Vasudevan reminds us that our seemingly impersonal instant deliveries and app-based indulgences are made possible by an army of behind-the-scenes workforce and that, as customers, we should be more mindful of their lives.
The author probably did not attempt to preach, but the introspection that is triggered is a borderline outcome. If you do read the book, you are bound to ask a myriad questions: What is the real cost of this convenience? Who pays the price when a delivery is delayed, a rider gets a low rating, or a small retailer struggles to manage returns and discounts imposed by aggregator platforms? Why do customers berate delivery agents who endure rain and heat? Do you even remember the name or face of the person who brought you your food last night?
The author’s insights hit hard. She writes about the dilemma faced by small business owners who were once content with their small but loyal client base, but have been experiencing FOMO by not being listed on online marketplaces. These aggregator startups offer a much larger reach but at a high cost, luring small sellers with the promise of growth, then binding them with murky algorithms, predatory pricing, and expensive returns policies. Consequently, many vendors find themselves in a Catch-22 situation, on a financial treadmill: continually investing more in ads and discounts, but rarely realising the promised scale.
Call for empathy and policy
For investors funding and building e-commerce companies, this book is a grim reminder that mere numbers can numb empathy. The book highlights how platforms manipulate the behaviour of consumers and gig workers alike by deploying algorithmic carrots and sticks. For instance, platforms may reward new riders with extra orders to get them hooked, but will quickly drop this once loyalty is secured—several Uber drivers have complained about this when I speak to them. Amazon warehouses, as recounted in the book, provide a stark example—gruelling 10-hour workdays with limited breaks and relentless targets, while sellers cope with ever-shifting terms. Delivery agents are forced to jump traffic signals, speed down roads the wrong way to meet a deadline, and avoid a penalty.
Vasudevan’s narrative spans south Asia, recognising that while India leads in scale, the challenges and transformations are regional. Whether it’s a beautician at Urban Company gaining newfound financial independence or a driver in Nepal navigating manipulative gig-platform algorithms, every story is rooted in authentic, local experience. Indeed, some of the finest stories emanate from our neighbouring nations.
One of the book’s major strengths is its refusal to flatten the diversity of experience. It acknowledges how platforms can accelerate social mobility, especially for women. Yet, it does not flinch from portraying despair, exploitation, and the loneliness that often define gig work. Workers may initially feel pleasure or pride, but this guilty gratitude quickly gives way to fatigue, anxiety, and disenchantment as the promises of flexibility and empowerment fade under relentless surveillance and rating-based discipline… like a hamster on a wheel. The author’s analysis also commands the attention of policymakers, asking whether movements like ‘Make in India’ are really working for the smallest players. She calls for protective regulations to ring-fence small businesses—addressing unfair pricing, copycat products, and grievance redressal—lest innovation becomes an agent of displacement for local entrepreneurs. She critiques governments for their reactive, rather than proactive, stance—new alternatives to monopolistic platforms, like ONDC and Namma Yatri, might help, but entrenched consumer habits—and colossal incumbents—are hard to overcome. Critically, she notes that gig work, for all its hype, is no panacea for south Asia’s booming working-age population; the labour is low-skilled, and offers little upward mobility.
The book is not a one-sitting read, even though its tone is breezy. Brimming with first-hand accounts, data, and scholarly context, you will need to digest it in installments—and not just because your reading will be interrupted by the arrival of yet another OTP!
Mohit Hira is co-founder, Myriad Communications, and venture partner at YourNest Capital Advisors