Digital Naukri Challenge
Homemakers as Nation Builders
Prize Purse of ₹6.5 Cr
India’s workforce has a gender problem: India’s most recent labour statistics show that while eight in ten men are in the labour force, only four in ten women are only four in ten women are.
Trapped by time, mobility, and social barriers, millions of women can’t access traditional employment.
But this is not a setback,
it’s an opportunity!
If they can’t go to work, why can’t work come to them?
Enter, digital naukri
Small tasks
Discrete by nature
Performed online
Shorter work hours
Foundational skills
Introducing the Digital Naukri Challenge: an 18-month competition to reimagine work for women.
We’re backing innovators building scalable, tech-driven platforms that make digital jobs accessible and dignified
Challenge timeline: 20 months
Viability Phase
Provide 500 women with microwork opportunities that can be performed:
a) at-home / remotely
b) from 1–4 hours per day
c) with time flexibilityProvide INR 200–500 / hr, for at least 10 days a month consistently
Average onboarding time (skilling + platform access) for women with secondary and below education levels should not exceed 3 months
Scalability Phase
Demonstrate the above outcomes for 10,000 women across diverse geographies
Demonstrate at least 70% retention by the end of the challenge
Female participants should demonstrate at least 2 transferable technology skills
From 190+ Applications to 11 Challengers
Futwork
With over 60% of their agents being women, Futwork is democratising the BPO model by decentralised tele-calling/ customer service-based jobs in peri-urban and semi-rural India.
B2R
Myna Mahila Foundation
Karya
I-Stem
Dhwani RIS
Rozgar Dhaba
Arya.ag
UPAJ
Through its Mitti Didi initiative, Upaj is enabling women to become key custodians of the soil testing infrastructure for farms across various parts of India.
DigiSwasthya
The Barabari Collective
Winning the Challenge: Prove Viability, Achieve Scale
Contestants will compete for an INR 6.5 crore prize, aiming to create flexible, time-and-location-free jobs for 500 women in Phase 1 and scale to 10,000 women in Phase 2.
During the Viability Phase, Challengers must:
Provide 500 women with digital work opportunities that can be performed at-home or remotely, from 1-4 hours per day, with time flexibility
Provide INR 10,000./- per month or an overall average income of INR 60,000/- for 6 months
Provide consistent work, for at least 10 days a month consistently
Onboard (skilling + platform access) women with secondary and above education within 3 months
Provide Digital Credentialing for skills and prove potential for skill transferability
During the Scalability Phase, Challengers must:
Demonstrate the above outcomes for 10000 women across diverse geographies
Demonstrate at least 70% workforce retention by the end of the challenge
Strengthen and build at least 2 transferable skills of the participants
Digital microwork refers to small, discrete tasks that are distributed to a large pool of workers via online platforms. These tasks can be completed quickly and typically require minimal time commitment, technical expertise, or advanced skills.
Scope of the challenge
Unlocking new work opportunities with fractional employment (time and location-flexible work)
Enable 500 women with digital microwork opportunities that are performed remotely, between 1-4 hours per day, and are time flexible.
Provide job tasks that have the potential to provide sustained, elevated earnings of INR 200-500/hr for at least 10 day s in a month.
Provide a rapid onboarding pathway to provide platform access and upskill women with a secondary-level education or below.
Scale these work opportunities for 10,000 and retain at least 70% of the women workers on the platform.
Demonstrate at least 2 transferable technology skills for the women participants
Challenge timeline
Add Your Heading Text Here
Message from our partners
“While female labour force participation is rising, data shows that women remain concentrated in a few low-productivity sectors, highlighting the need to close solution gaps. At Mphasis, we’re committed to supporting initiatives that drive real change. We’re proud to take this step through The/Nudge Prize, helping to identify and support innovative ideas that create equitable livelihoods for women.”
Deepa Nagraj
Impact at a Glance
6
Sectors
25
states
2,000+
jobs generated
Inside the Challenge: Three Critical Questions About Women and Digital Work
As our cohort organizations test and scale their models, we’re uncovering insights that could reshape how India thinks about women’s employment. Check out our blog series that explores three pivotal questions
India’s digital economy is reshaping the future of work but women will benefit only if inclusion is built by design. Drawing from early insights from Sanmati 2.0, this blog unpacks the forces driving digital work,...
As India’s digital economy expands, organisations across diverse sectors are experimenting with new work models that can bring women into meaningful, flexible, and dignified employment. The first article in this series explored what women themselves...
Across India, millions of women stand at the edge of opportunity, eager to work, eager to contribute, and eager to carve out a measure of independence. Yet, the path to earning has often felt narrow,...
Interventions through Expert-Led Support
Pathways in Digital Work: Mapping Roles, Skills, and Progression Workshop in collaboration with the Sanmati 2.0 team
Based on the Common Digital Skills Framework, this workshop helped Challengers articulate the skills and capabilities of their program participants. The session enabled them to identify and validate job roles, skills, and growth pathways for participants.
Navigating Sales Pipelines & Future Workforce Trends Masterclass with industry leaders from Mphasis
Moderated by Kanishka Chatterjee (Advisor, The/Nudge Prize), this session featured insights from:
- Sujata Menon (VP – Delivery, Mphasis)
- Sandy Cariappa (AVP – Head of NextOps Data & Governance Services)
- Vijay Kumar V (VP – Global Delivery)
The masterclass explored building sales pipelines, capturing demand in the evolving job market, identifying domestic market trends, and building adaptive strategies.
Pathways in Digital Work: Mapping Roles, Skills, and Progression Workshop in collaboration with the Sanmati 2.0 team
Message from our partners & advisors
“While female labour force participation is rising, data shows that women remain concentrated in a few low-productivity sectors, highlighting the need to close solution gaps. At Mphasis, we’re committed to supporting initiatives that drive real change. We’re proud to take this step through The/Nudge Prize, helping to identify and support innovative ideas that create equitable livelihoods for women.”
Deepa Nagraj
“I am proud to support this impactful initiative aimed at empowering underprivileged women by fostering innovative, tech-driven solutions. Addressing key challenges such as digital microwork can unlock new employment pathways and economic mobility for millions. This endeavour is vital to bridging the gap in workforce participation and enhancing livelihoods for women facing social and structural barriers. I am committed to contributing insights and strategic guidance that inspire sustainable progress and create equitable opportunities for all. “
Rituparna Chakraborty
“I am excited to be a part of this important initiative that is attempting to find pathways for marginalised women to become economically productive citizens through digital microwork. This will open new avenues of employment and economic resilience for millions, enabling women to step confidently into emerging roles and industries.”
Gayathri Vasudevan
“The poor do not need poor solutions. Millions of underserved women deserve fair, equitable, and high-quality opportunities that recognise their potential and provide pathways to sustainable livelihoods. Digital micro-work and similar task based work, offers a transformative chance to empower women economically—not as a handout, but as a dignified solution that aligns with their aspirations. At Mann Deshi, we’ve seen how access to the right tools and opportunities can help women thrive. I’m committed to ensuring this ethos drives efforts to create meaningful change.”
Chetna Sinha
“Tough problems are solved through disruptive innovation ecosystems. Over the last two decades, India has leapfrogged its ability to address knowledge work through digital pathways. Yet, a significant gap remains: connecting frontier sectors with millions of homebound women aged 25-40 who are outside the formal workforce. For these digital work pathways to succeed, job creators and enablers must deeply understand the latent potential and diverse skills of these women to shape the next wave of work that brings them income and opportunity. I am eager to engage with and learn from efforts tackling this challenge to uncover transformative solutions.”
Sharad Sharma
Advisors
Sharad Sharma
Gayathri Vasudevan
Rituparna Chakraborty
Chetna Sinha
Ecosystem partners
Hear from our past challengers and winners
“Since the challenge concluded, we have been growing rapidly and it feels like we went from class 5 to class 10 suddenly. But both the CISCO team and The/Nudge have been tremendously helpful.”
Nidhi Pant, Co-founder
“Very grateful to Prize for bringing together our cohort for the India market. We hope this bouquet of solutions becomes the next ‘India Stack’ for water.”
Gokul Krishna, Co-founder and CEO
“If a system works for a smallholder farmer, it can work for everyone. Towards the end of DCM Shriram AgWC, we would like to reach at least 5000 smallholder farmers.”
Shrilesh Mande, Co-founder and CEO
“The AgWater Challenge has changed us. During baseline we conducted interviews with our smallholder farmers regarding their practices and aspirations. It was tough but eye opening.”
Ankit Jain, Co-founder and BDO
“Our audacious goal is to cultivate 50,000 acres of paddy fields across the northern and southern regions of India by the end of this challenge-no matter how ambitious it may seem.”
Mallesh TM, Founder and CEO
Digital microwork refers to small, discrete tasks that are distributed to a large pool of workers via online platforms. These tasks can be completed quickly and typically require minimal time commitment, technical expertise, or advanced skills.
