With blue and grey collar jobs back in demand, start-up placement firm Vahan on Friday said it has reached a 1 lakh milestone of providing employment opportunities through its WhatsApp API (application programming interface) enabled chatbot, Mitra. There has been an increase of 400 per cent since 2020 and these workers have been placed in several blue/grey-collared jobs in sectors such as logistics, delivery, and BPOs, the company said in a statement.

Commenting on the milestone, Vahan Founder and CEO Madhav Krishna said, "Our partnership with WhatsApp allows us to seamlessly connect employers and job seekers thereby facilitating better livelihoods and financial inclusion especially for underprivileged households." The blue-collar segment is an underserved market in India despite constituting the bulk of the workforce, he said adding Vahan is "leveraging the power of WhatsApp, AI and machine learning to bring a great value proposition to both recruiters and job seekers in this underserved blue-collar market".

WhatsApp India Head Abhijit Bose said,"Vahan has grown into a key contributor and driver of growth in the gig workforce. We are excited that WhatsApp continues to bring value to such innovative models of growth and helps accelerate financial and digital inclusion among blue-collar workforce in India." Vahan claimed it currently has 5 million users on its platform, adding 2.5 lakh people every month and is placing 5,000 people every month and is growing at a rate of 25 per cent per month.