Growing Livelihood Opportunities for Women
The Last-Mile Delivery Industry
The last-mile delivery (LMD) industry is growing and has the potential to employ nearly 2.5 million agents by 2025. Today, less than 5 percent of last-mile delivery agents are women.

Industry Overview
Last-mile delivery is the final leg of a delivery when an online purchase is delivered to the customer. The industry is a USD 1.35 billion market and is expected to grow at approximately 36 percent annually.[1] This growth is driven by the rise in use of e-commerce and order-taking apps.
The LMD industry has high potential for GLOW as it:
Barriers Faced by Employers
Hiring women as delivery agents can enable LMD companies to reduce attrition and have a more reliable workforce. Employers face barriers to hiring more women such as:
- Low awareness among women about LMD as an aspirational employment opportunity
- Safety concerns
- Societal norms against women joining this industry
- Lack of ownership of vehicles and limited financing options for vehicles
GLOW's Last-Mile Delivery Partners


[1] IBEF 2019, ‘Growth of Ecommerce Industry in India’; KMPG 2018, ‘E-commerce retail logistics in India’
[2] Economic Times 2019, ‘Ecommerce companies plan to double or triple fleet of delivery agents’
[3] FSG expert interviews
