Labour Contractors (Thekedaars) to Human Resource Companies: Labour Market Intermediaries in India

Lakshmi Parvathy () and Rajalaxmi Kamath ()
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Lakshmi Parvathy: Indian Institute of Management
Rajalaxmi Kamath: Indian Institute of Management

The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 2024, vol. 67, issue 1, No 10, 197-219

Abstract: Abstract Labour market intermediaries (LMIs) are gaining prominence in forging employment relations with principal employer and labour in a tripartite setting. In this article, we underpin the current literature situating LMIs in the global value chains (GVCs) and global production networks (GPNs) to its historical provenance that of the Indian labour contractor (thekedaar) by studying the role of the labour contractor in three globally pegged Indian colonial sites: the Indian Railways, the Bombay cotton mills, and the tea plantations. This historical analysis helps us understand the morphing nature of LMIs in India, post-2000, in the form of human resource companies (HRCs). For the latter, we use a novel dataset—companies registered under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, to extract those established to serve the purpose of LMIs. This data are juxtaposed with the theoretical framework that classifies LMIs into a typology of matchmakers, information providers and administrators. Given the long history and phenomenal diversity in practices of LMIs in India, we conclude that it is difficult to capture them within the existing classificatory frameworks and thus offers opportunities for theory extension. We conclude that though the thekedaars are evolving into a more sophisticated and formalised versions of human resource companies or Staffing Solution Companies, there has not been much change in their core functions as labour market intermediaries.

Keywords: Labour market intermediaries; Human resource companies; Labour contractors; thekedaars; GVC; GPN; J2: Demand and Supply of Labor; J24 Human Capital • Skills • Occupational Choice • Labor Productivity; J4 Particular Labor Markets; J41 Labor Contracts; J42 Monopsony • Segmented Labor Markets; J5 Labor–Management Relations; Trade Unions; and Collective Bargaining; M5 Personnel Economics; M51 Firm Employment Decisions • Promotions; M52 Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects; M54 Labor Management; M55 Labor Contracting Devices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s41027-024-00477-6

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