Case Study of a Delhi auto driver and how he was affected by the global downturn:

Shushil is an auto driver, one of over 100,000 grey-shirted men plying the streets of India’s capital city. We had been interviewing drivers for a few weeks as part of a report on the auto sector in Delhi, when we came across him, or rather, we flagged him down. Standing next to his auto, glass of piping hot tea in hand, the forty-year old father of three, explained that despite his classic auto-wallah appearance (middle aged, shabby uniform, with the popular thin Indian moustache), he had only been driving for six or seven months. It turns out, Shushil is a victim of the global recession, but he’s coping well with the downturn.

Originally from rural Uttar Pradesh, he wasn’t interested in school work and left as soon as he could. With little chance of finding anything other than back-breaking agricultural labour in his native Farrukhabad, he travelled to Delhi on the advice of his brother who was already in the city working in a garment factory, stitching clothes for export. This was 1991 and within a year his wife had joined him in Delhi. The work was hard and wages were often delayed if the buyers were slow to pay up. But it was regular work and after some considerable saving, he and his wife were able to buy a modest house in which to raise their three young girls. However, disaster struck in 2009. The global financial crisis decimated overseas demand for Indian-made garments. Exports plummeted and producers began to lay off workers at a rapid rate. Shushil was one of the victims.

Without secure work for the first time in nearly two decades, Shushil decided to give auto driving a try. He already had a license (no small feat), which he’d gotten a decade previously in order to ride his scooter around town. With a license already in his pocket - the difficult bit already completed - he cleared the additional paperwork without too many problems. He has most of the legal paperwork required to drive an auto (a major achievement given the capital’s labyrinthine and thoroughly corrupt transport administration) and will be a fully fledged driver in a few weeks when his official badge comes through.

Some friends from his home town introduced him to an auto owner and vouched for his reliability, trustworthiness and general good character. Such testimonies are vital as owners are loath to rent their valuable machines to anyone who walks in from the street because due to a limit on the number of autos allowed to work in Delhi they are worth over Rs.400,000. With helpful friends and some good luck with paperwork in no time at all, Shushil was behind the handle-bars of an auto and driving the streets of Delhi looking for customers.

This was a major change for Shushil. Garment workers get a low but reliable wage. Auto drivers, on the other hand, have considerably more freedom and flexibility, but far fewer safety nets. They have to haggle with every customer for the best possible price and manage their whereabouts to maximise the possibility of getting a customer - avoiding making lengthy trips without passengers. In short, they play a big part in deciding their daily incomes.
Shushil doesn’t own the auto. He rents it from the auto owner for Rs.150 for an eight hour night shift. He spends around Rs.70-80 on fuel (compressed natural gas). For eight hours work, he usually makes a profit of Rs.250. He then hands it back to the owner who plies the more profitable day shift.
The owner says he will register Shushil as the official second driver of his auto (in addition to the owner) under the Delhi Government’s new ’smart card’ scheme, which restricts the number of drivers who can use each auto. So, with a license, an incoming badge and a guaranteed ride, is Shushil set to work in the profession until he‘s old and grey? He laughs. Yes, he says, it’s much better than factory work. Now he has cash in his hands everyday. Not just cash; more cash. What’s more, he feels more in control of his earnings and enjoys being able to make his own business decisions about where to drive to and where to wait in order to maximise fares and profits.
In short, the recession has done Shushil a favour. He left the factory with its monotonous work and erratic pay and went into a job he likes, which pays more, and empowers him to make his own business decisions on a daily basis.  

An exclusive report From our WES correspondent in Delhi