As India’s e-commerce and quick-commerce sectors rapidly expand, the demand for gig workers is reaching new heights. At the forefront of addressing this workforce demand is Vahan.ai, a Bengaluru-based startup that is transforming blue-collar recruitment through artificial intelligence.
Founded in 2016 by Madhav Krishna, an AI graduate from Columbia University, Vahan.ai is now among India’s largest platforms for recruiting gig and semi-skilled workers. The company uses an AI-powered recruitment system to match job seekers with employment opportunities, streamlining the traditionally fragmented and manual hiring process.
“We saw that most blue-collar recruitment relied on outdated agency networks,” Krishna shared in an interview with Indian Express. “The gig economy was just taking off, and we wanted to bridge the gap using technology.” Initially launched as a WhatsApp-based skilling tool to teach English, the company pivoted in 2019 to focus squarely on job placement after realizing employment was a more urgent need than upskilling.
That shift led them to Y Combinator, with support from Khosla Ventures, and the development of their flagship AI recruiter. This system automates the hiring pipeline—allowing agencies to screen, validate, and onboard candidates more efficiently than ever before.
According to Krishna, recruiters using the AI tool have seen their productivity triple, enabling them to place up to three candidates per day compared to just one previously.
A Marketplace for Jobs
Vahan.ai operates as a digital marketplace, connecting demand from major platforms like Zomato, Swiggy, Zepto, and Flipkart with supply sourced through recruitment agencies. These agencies, ranging from small teams in towns like Darbhanga or Rewa to more established setups, can view job listings, input candidate data, and manage documentation—while Vahan’s AI system handles the rest.
This AI chatbot, built using OpenAI’s GPT-4 and GPT-4o models, manages over 20,000 calls a day, holding job-related conversations in both Hindi and English. The company plans to extend support to at least eight more Indian languages in the near future. The bot is trained to sound familiar and non-robotic, tailored to India’s diverse linguistic landscape.
“We’re fine-tuning how our bot understands nuances like regional variations of simple responses such as ‘yes,’” said Krishna. “It’s not just about language—it’s about tone, dialect, and cultural context.”
The bot’s current capabilities include validating documents and initiating job conversations with candidates. Internally, Vahan conducts rigorous testing—both manual and automated—to evaluate and improve the AI’s voice, conversational quality, and accuracy.
Scaling the AI Workforce Engine
To date, Vahan.ai has placed over 1 million individuals in jobs and continues to recruit around 40,000 candidates per month, primarily in India’s top metropolitan areas. The company earns revenue by charging employers a fee for each successful hire made through the platform.
Looking ahead, Vahan.ai aims to expand its reach to other sectors beyond gig work. “We’ve begun partnerships with large manufacturers and are also recruiting cab drivers for transportation companies,” Krishna revealed. “The model works, and we’re now scaling it to new industries.”
Despite the growing role of AI, Krishna insists the goal is not to replace humans, but to augment their capabilities—especially in India, where job seekers often rely on personal networks rather than formal channels.
“In our context, people still depend on someone they trust—like a relative or local agent—to find jobs,” he said. “That’s where our platform fits in. We empower agencies to work better with the help of AI. It’s a collaboration, not a substitution.”
Krishna concluded by emphasizing the long-term vision: to make AI a force multiplier for human effort, particularly in sectors where trust and communication still drive decision-making.
